A tv show about Boba Fett sounds like it’d be about the armored bounty hunter going around the galaxy on space adventures as he hunts down people wanted by his employers. There’s gonna be gunslinging, space battles, and probably a moment where Boba has his quarry cornered and quips some one-liner before shooting them. You know, Boba Fett stuff.
Book of Boba Fett has precious little of that. We’ve mostly only seen Tatooine, there’s not much in the way of taking jobs, and there’s an unexpected amount of Tusken Raiders. Instead of bounty hunting, Boba Fett is trying to build up his successor to Jabba The Hutt’s underworld empire — something he’s not particularly good at. It’s an idiosyncratic image, watching super cool Boba Fett flounder his way through the political machinations of Mos Espa. Where’s the blasting?
But was ever Boba Fett really that cool? Put aside the books and comics, of both the old Expanded Universe and new Canon; what has Boba Fett actually ever done? Helped lead Han and Leia into a trap, yes, but that was off-screen. He did some shooting on Cloud City, but was far more interested in escaping with his bounty. Then in Return of The Jedi he flew around for a bit before being accidentally whacked into the Sarlaac Pit by a blinded Han Solo. He is the cloth Captain Phasma was cut from someone who does very little but looks very cool.
It wasn’t until The Mandalorian that we actually saw Boba Fett in action, beating up Stormtroopers with a Gaffi Stick. This is the Boba Fett whose reputation precedes him, but left to his own devices/tv show, he’s a different man, changed from years in the desert. And that’s for the better, I’d say; we already have a show about a cool Mandalorian, so giving Boba his own story helps the show not feel like The Other Mandalorian.
Part of focusing a story on Boba Fett means unwrapping the man under the helmet, means giving him vulnerabilities, and it means giving him a place to grow. If anything, it’s a testament to that sense of a massive world that Star Wars has always had, one where these small characters who appear on screen for a matter of minutes conjure up flights of fancy and wonder.
Plus, there’s gotta be space for a Fennec Shand show, right?
Essays, Not Rants! 