The Book of Boba Fett

The Book of Boba Fett is an American space Western television miniseries created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise and a spin-off from The Mandalorian, taking place in the same timeframe as that series and its other interconnected spin-offs after the events of the film Return of the Jedi (1983). The Book of Boba Fett follows bounty hunter Boba Fett from The Mandalorian and other Star Wars media as he establishes himself as the new crime lord of Jabba the Hutt's former territory.

Temuera Morrison stars as the title character, with Ming-Na Wen and Pedro Pascal also starring. All reprise their roles from The Mandalorian and other Star Wars media. A standalone Star Wars film centered on Boba Fett was in early development at Lucasfilm before the company began prioritizing streaming series such as The Mandalorian. A potential spin-off series was first reported in November 2020 and was officially announced in December. Filming had begun by that point and lasted until June 2021. In addition to Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson returned from The Mandalorian as executive producers and were joined by Robert Rodriguez, who directed three episodes. Favreau and Rodriguez served as showrunners.

The Book of Boba Fett premiered on December 29, 2021, and ran for seven episodes until February 9, 2022. The final episode had the highest viewership for a Star Wars series on Disney+ at that point. The series received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Morrison's performance but criticized some storytelling decisions, including the choice to focus on Pascal's the Mandalorian for multiple episodes. The series received several accolades including a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award for its visual effects.

Premise

Mercenaries Boba Fett and Fennec Shand attempt to make a name for themselves in the galaxy's underworld by taking over the territory once controlled by Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine. Fett calls upon the Mandalorian, Din Djarin, to help consolidate his power while Djarin's ward Grogu trains to be a Jedi with Luke Skywalker.

Cast and characters

Starring

• Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett:
  The newest "Daimyo" of Tatooine, a former bounty hunter, and clone of his father Jango Fett. Morrison said the series was an opportunity to explore the character's past and show what happened to him between the events of Return of the Jedi (1983) and the second season of The Mandalorian (2020). He focused on Fett's "simmering kind of violence" and desire for revenge, as well as his loneliness, that was caused by watching his father die at a young age. This plays into the idea that he finds a new family in a tribe of Tusken Raiders in The Book of Boba Fett. Archive footage of Daniel Logan as a young Fett filmed for Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) was used, while Finnegan Garay served as the on-set actor for young Fett. Morrison also voices the clone troopers in Grogu's Order 66 flashback.
• Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand: An elite mercenary and assassin in Fett's service
• Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin / The Mandalorian: A Mandalorian bounty hunter whom Fett and Shand previously assisted in his quest

Recurring co-stars

• Matt Berry as the voice of 8D8: A torture droid in Fett's service
• David Pasquesi as the Twi'lek majordomo to Mok Shaiz, Mayor of Mos Espa on Tatooine
• Jennifer Beals as Garsa Fwip: A Twi'lek who runs a cantina in Mos Espa called the Sanctuary
• Carey Jones as Krrsantan: A Wookiee bounty hunter and former gladiator who worked for the Twins, Jabba the Hutt's cousins, before being hired by Fett
• Sophie Thatcher as Drash: Leader of a group of cyborgs who work for Fett
• Jordan Bolger as Skad: A member of the group of cyborgs who work for Fett

Other co-stars

• Stephen Root as Lortha Peel: A water-monger in the Worker's District of Mos Espa
• Danny Trejo as the trainer of Fett's rancor
• Stephen "Thundercat" Bruner as a mod artist in Mos Eisley who saves the lives of Shand and Vanth using cybernetic parts
• Emily Swallow as the Armorer: Leader of Djarin's former Mandalorian warrior tribe
• Amy Sedaris as Peli Motto: A mechanic who runs a hangar in Mos Eisley
• Timothy Olyphant as Cobb Vanth: The marshal of the Tatooine town of Freetown, formerly Mos Pelgo, who previously wore Fett's armor
• Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano: A Togruta and former Jedi Padawan of Anakin Skywalker
• Corey Burton as the voice of Cad Bane: A notorious Duros bounty hunter employed by the Pyke Syndicate. Bane is physically portrayed by Dorian Kingi.
• Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker:
  A Jedi Master and the son of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. As with his de-aged appearance on The Mandalorian, Skywalker was largely created through visual effects and synthesized speech respectively based on reference images and recordings of Hamill. Graham Hamilton was the on-set performer for the character.

Additionally, director Robert Rodriguez voices the Trandoshan crime boss Dokk Strassi (physically portrayed by Stephen Oyoung), and the Ithorian Mayor of Mos Espa, Mok Shaiz. Frank Trigg and Collin Hymes portray the two Gamorrean guards in Fett's service. Mandy Kowalski and Skyler Bible appear as Camie Marstrap and Laze "Fixer" Loneozner, respectively, characters originally portrayed by Koo Stark and Anthony Forrest in a deleted scene from Star Wars (1977). Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and Jon Favreau both reprise their Mandalorian roles as Captain Carson Teva and the voice of Paz Vizsla, respectively, with Vizsla portrayed on-set by Tait Fletcher. Max Lloyd-Jones, who served as the Luke Skywalker stand-in on The Mandalorian, appears as Lieutenant Reed. W. Earl Brown reprises his role as Taanti, the Weequay proprietor in Freetown. Also returning from The Mandalorian is the character Grogu, a young Force-sensitive member of Yoda's species who was previously Djarin's ward. Skywalker's droid R2-D2 also appears.

Sam Witwer, the voice actor for Darth Maul in previous Star Wars media, provided the uncredited voice of a Rodian prisoner, while frequent Star Wars voice actor Stephen Stanton provided the uncredited voice of a Pyke traveler who was performed on-set by Alfred Hsing. Phil LaMarr provided the voice for the Pyke and Klatooinian bosses, and Will Kirby makes a cameo appearance as Karales, a former bounty hunter at the Sanctuary.

Episodes

Production

Background

In February 2013, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the development of several Star Wars standalone spin-off films. One was reportedly centered on the bounty hunter character Boba Fett, and would either take place between Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980) or The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (1983). The film was also said to explore the other bounty hunters seen in The Empire Strikes Back.

Simon Kinberg approached director Josh Trank about making a Star Wars film in early 2014, and Trank made a pitch for a Boba Fett film to Star Wars producer Lucasfilm; he was hired to direct that June. Trank was scheduled to announce the film at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in April 2015, and also reveal a teaser for the project, but this was canceled at the last minute after Lucasfilm became aware of the troubled production on Trank's film Fantastic Four (2015). By May 2015, Trank was no longer working on the film. A Boba Fett film was still being considered by Lucasfilm as of August 2017, and James Mangold was set to write and direct it in May 2018, with Kinberg co-writing and producing. Mangold described his take as being "a borderline R-rated, single planet spaghetti Western", and he listened to the music of Ennio Morricone while working on the script. Following the financial failure of the film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), Disney reconsidered their Star Wars film output. By October 2018, the Boba Fett film was no longer moving forward, and Lucasfilm was prioritizing the Disney+ streaming series The Mandalorian instead. Mangold later acknowledged the impact of Solo's financial failure, but was also unsure the film would have moved forward considering his script's dark tone.

Iger said in February 2020 that spin-offs of The Mandalorian were being considered, and there was potential to add more characters to the series with the intention of then giving them their own series. In May, Temuera Morrison was set to appear as Boba Fett in the second season of The Mandalorian. Morrison portrayed Boba's father Jango Fett in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and went on to provide the voice of Boba in various Star Wars media. Before Morrison's involvement in The Mandalorian was confirmed, Fett briefly appeared in the first season episode "Chapter 5: The Gunslinger" alongside the character Fennec Shand, portrayed by Ming-Na Wen. Morrison has a brief role in the second-season premiere, "Chapter 9: The Marshal", before being fully introduced in "Chapter 14: The Tragedy", directed by Robert Rodriguez.