Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett is only a few weeks away, marking a major turning point for the fan-favorite character who was originally “killed off” on the big screen in 1983. But now Boba Fett‘s back (played by Temuera Morrison) and teaming up with assassin Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) to take over Jabba the Hutt’s old criminal empire on Tatooine.
According to the trailers released so far, the prime focus of the seven-episode series will be Boba and Fennec’s adventures on the dangerous desert planet and their quest to reunite Jabba’s captains under their banner. But could there be more to this bounty hunter’s book than meets the eye? Certainly, there are more than a few questions this series could answer about the whereabouts of the character since Return of the Jedi. And what does the rest of the Hutt Cartel think about Jabba’s fall?
If you’ll allow us to speculate for a moment, here are a few other things that could be addressed in The Book of Boba Fett:
How Boba Fett Escaped the Sarlacc Pit
One of the biggest questions The Book of Boba Fett will need to answer early on is exactly how the bounty hunter survived his gruesome fate in Return of the Jedi. Although he was doomed to be slowly digested in the sarlacc’s stomach for a thousand years, Boba somehow escaped, got all his stuff back, and took Jabba’s throne in what seems like just a few days.
Of course, that’s not exactly right. After all, five years separate The Mandalorian season 2 from Return of the Jedi, meaning Boba either spent years trapped inside the sarlacc before finally escaping — or he cut his way out almost immediately and then spent the next few years wandering the desert. Either way, Star Wars is a franchise that likes to explain every single thing about its universe, so it’s pretty likely we’ll get the answers we’ve been looking for in The Book of Boba Fett.
One teaser has already shown Boba floating in a bacta tank, which could be part of a longer scene where the bounty hunter is recovering from his injuries after his tumble into the flesh-eating desert pit. There’s also a snippet that teases Boba recovering his old ship from Jabba’s palace with Fennec. These flashbacks are a no-brainer.
Cad Bane, Bossk, Dengar, and Other Bounty Hunters
The Book of Boba Fett has been described as a story that resembles classic gangster movies. In one trailer, we can see Boba Fett sitting at the head of a table full of criminals, a shot meant to evoke moments from The Godfather. But this is also a story specifically about the Star Wars underworld, which means it needs to include the biggest scum in the galaxy: the notorious bounty hunters who kill for credits.
While it’s true that Boba is the face of Star Wars bounty hunters, he’s definitely not the only one running around imprisoning people in carbonite. We met Din Djarin in The Mandalorian, of course, and we learned about even more in The Empire Strikes Back. Mercenaries like Bossk, Dengar, Cad Bane, Durge, and IG-88 have all become legends in their own right in the years since the Original and Prequel Trilogies. And it stands to reason some of them will have a few things to say about their former colleague becoming the galaxy’s foremost crime boss. This definitely feels like the right moment to bring these bad guys back to live-action.
Ord Mantell, Nar Shaddaa, and Hutt Space
More than a few fans online have wondered whether The Book of Boba Fett really plans to spend seven episodes on Tatooine in and around Jabba’s Palace. It’s certainly a possibility, especially in the age of Covid and social distancing. Productions are just smaller and more intimate these days for the cast and crew’s safety.
But it’s also not unreasonable to expect Boba and Fennec to go off-world at some point in the series. After all, space travel is a cornerstone of Star Wars, so our beloved anti-heroes could very well be set to explore other hives of scum and villainy. In fact, they’ll kind of need to if they hope to really bring Jabba’s old empire under their control. As fans of the Expanded Universe of books, comics, and games will tell you, Jabba’s organization doesn’t just stretch across Tatooine but a whole sector of the galaxy known as “Hutt Space” as well as other planets and moons outside of that.
This could be the perfect opportunity to bring some of the most famous locations from Star Wars lore to live action for the first time, such as Ord Mantell, where Han Solo ran into Boba Fett just before the Battle of Hoth, or the Hutt moon of Nar Shadaa, home to many bounty hunters and crime lords. In order to get everyone to fall in line, Boba and Fennec will probably need to tame one or two of these place during the series.
What’s Left of the Hutt Clan
The trailers have already shown that rolling up into Jabba’s territory and taking it over won’t be quite as easy as killing Bib Fortuna and sitting on a throne. There are plenty of other crime lords vying for power on Tatooine too, and that’s without taking into account what the rest of Jabba’s kin might have to say about Boba taking over.
For most of his life, Jabba was the leader of a whole clan of powerful Hutt crime lords who ruled the galaxy’s underworld. But as the War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event from Marvel recently revealed, that inner circle of Hutt bosses was decimated by Darth Vader and the Empire just before Return of the Jedi after one of Jabba’s Hutt lieutenants betrayed the Dark Lord of the Sith. Only Jabba was smart enough to avoid Vader’s wrath.
So was Jabba truly the last of the Hutt crime bosses when Luke Skywalker showed up in his palace? Or is there another ready to take over the operation? We’ll be pretty surprised if this series doesn’t introduce at least one new Hutt character, if only for nostalgia’s sake.
Cobb Vanth
There’s crime afoot on Tatooine and Mos Pelgo’s gunslinging sheriff probably won’t stand for it. But Timothy Olyphant’s Cobb Vanth and Boba Fett are tied to each other in more ways than just lawman vs. criminal. Before Boba caught up to Din Djarin on Tython, it was Cobb who wore the infamous Mandalorian armor, unaware of its long, bloody legacy. Could Cobb and Boba finally cross paths in the new series? Olyphant’s guest role on The Mandalorian was so well-received that it’d be almost unacceptable not to bring him back to hang with Boba.
Jango Fett’s Legacy and Mandalorian History
Boba’s mission to recover his armor from Mando seemed to be about more than just reacquiring all of his cool toys. It was also about reclaiming his father Jango Fett’s legacy. During the Prequel era, Jango Fett’s Mandalorian heritage was often called into question — in fact, his opponents in a bloody Mandalorian civil war downright claimed that Jango Fett was an impostor who had appropriated their warrior culture for his own gain. But Boba put that all to bed in The Mandalorian season 2 when he explained his father had been a foundling just like Din and no less a Mandalorian than Pedro Pascal’s traditionalist warrior. It’s all in the armor’s chain code.
But there are still many who doubt Boba Fett’s place among the Mandalorians, such as Bo-Katan Kryze who saw nothing more than another clone enemy (Bo-Katan fought on the side of the Separatists during the Clone Wars) when the two met. It’s possible the new series could further explore Boba’s Mandalorian history as a way to solidify his place among his people, even if he ultimately chooses Tatooine over Mandalore. And who knows: maybe the series is about Boba slowly learning that he needs to help his people — in the old Legends canon, he eventually earned the title of Mand’alor, leader of the Mandalorians.
Din Djarin and Bo-Katan
Speaking of Bo-Katan, her own quest to take back her home planet for her people is far from over. Things are actually more complicated than ever after the cliffhanger ending of The Mandalorian season 2 where Din became the rightful wielder of the Darksaber, and therefore technically the new leader of the Mandalorians. Now, the only way she can get the blade back is by defeating Din in combat. Since insiders say The Book of Boba Fett is like “The Mandalorian 2.5,” it’s possible we’ll see a little bit of this drama play out on this show. Either way, it wouldn’t be surprising to see these two cameo at some point as a way to set up season 3 next year.
Qi’ra and Crimson Dawn?
During Jabba’s reign, the Hutt Cartel was one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the galaxy, but it was far from the only one. There was also Black Sun, the Pyke Syndicate, and Crimson Dawn, the latter of which just made a big comeback in Marvel’s War of the Bounty Hunters and Crimson Reign series. Years after the death of their original boss Darth Maul, Crimson Dawn was reborn under Qi’ra’s leadership in the months before the events of Return of the Jedi. During this time, Qi’ra even crossed paths with Boba Fett!
Five years later, could Crimson Dawn still be out there, ready to take over the Hutt’s territory? The timing of these comics, released throughout 2021 in the lead up to a new show about the Star Wars underworld sure seems suspicious…
What big moments do you hope to see in The Book of Boba Fett? Let us know in the comments!
The Book of Boba Fett premieres on Dec. 29 on Disney+.