The Mandalorian is set to return to Disney + in October, and when it does, it’ll reportedly bring back a familiar face: the iconic bounty hunter Boba Fett. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Temuera Morrison has been cast to play the character.
Morrison is uniquely suited to play the character. In 2002’s Attack of the Clones, he played Jango Fett, the bounty hunter that was used as the template for the Republic’s entire clone army, including his “son”, Boba, an unaltered clone (played by Daniel Logan, who reprised the role during The Clone Wars). Fett’s return to the franchise is apparently a small one, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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The bounty hunter first appeared in The Star Wars Holiday Special and again in The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi, where he met an unceremonious end when he was eaten by the Sarlacc. In the now non-canon Expanded Universe, Fett escaped and continued his life as a bounty hunter.
Fett has yet to reappear in the new franchise, although his reappearance was teased at the end of “The Gunslinger,” The Mandalorian‘s fifth episode. (Listen to the sounds made by the mysterious figure that rescues Fennec Shand.)
Prior to The Mandalorian, Lucasfilm had worked on developing a standalone film about the character twice. The first was to be helmed by Fantastic Four‘s Josh Trank, but was quickly shut down as his career imploded, while Logan‘s James Mangold was set to write and direct a film in 2018. That film was apparently canceled following Solo‘s lackluster box office performance.
Fett will join another fan-favorite character who will reportedly appear in The Mandalorian‘s second season: Rosario Dawson has reportedly been cast to play Ahsoka Tano, a major character in The Clone Wars and Rebels.
“Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where?”
I guess this means we’ll get a new canon explanation of how Boba escaped the sarlac pit.
Does this mean Boba is a clone? Nevermind, I just answered my own question remembering the prequels.
But he’s not a Mandalorian right?
Is it confirmed he’s in fact playing Fett? With Morrison, it could easily be a clone from the Clone Wars. In other words, a former stormtrooper.
@2 Apparently, he is whatever Disney wants him to be. “Canon” wise he was a Mandalorian warrior.
Whatever he is playing, I’m excited – I really like Temuera Morrison.
Iconic bounty hunter?
More like worst bounty hunter in the galaxy who got punked by a blind guy.
Morrison could play multiple roles, given that Jango Fett was the template for the clones. Maybe we’ll also get an older Rex, and some of the other surviving clones from Rebels. We’re getting Ahsoka, and she was tight with them.
Um, maybe I misunderstood the ending of that episode but I’m pretty sure that mysterious figure discovers her corpse, rather than rescuing her…?
I know some critics/fans are saying the character was introduced-then-killed too quickly and want her to return, so it is possible she will return, but the episode didn’t hint at her being alive, so saying the figure “rescues” her seems…off.
Seems unnecessary. The first season did just fine with new characters. Made the universe feel big again.
This doesn’t.
I suspect it’ll be a flashback. Didn’t one of the final episodes suggest Fett was one of the Mandalorian’s who saved, um, the Mandalorian. I don’t know. The less Fett the better for me.
As a Boba Fett fan I want to believe this, but I’ve been burned too many times on getting new Boba Fett content. I’m going to wait for an official confirmation.
@@.-@: According to Prime Minister Almec in the Clone Wars, Jango is not a Mandalorian, despite his armor, so his clone Boba isn’t either. That’s Lucas-era canon, pre-Disney acquisition, and it still holds true.
@12
Lucas-era canon has Mandalorians being pretty schismatic. A Prime Minister emphatically vouching to a foreign envoy that you’re not at all a Mandalorian and as such said envoy has no claim whatsoever to restitution probably means you’re only not a Mandalorian from a certain point of view.
@12 / @13 – We also know from The Mandalorian season 1 that you can become culturally Mandalorian via adoption. Even if Jango wasn’t really Mandalorian, as stated in The Clone Wars, Boba could be. We don’t know, in cannon, what happened to Boba between seeing his father/clone decapitated and becoming a bounty hunter. If he believed his father/clone to be Mandalorian, its possible he sought out another Mandalorian clan to join.
Somebody also mentioned it but it did occur to me that it could be Rex, especially as Rebels canonized him as the Endor rebel troope sro he’s alive at least that long. :) And knowing that Ahsoka is in it I think could make that reasonable.
Or hey, why not both :)
@14 Side materials seem to have quietly confirmed that Jango’s back to being a confirmed Mandalorian.
I may be a minority here, but I really hate Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett. Say what you will he’s canon, he’s in the prequels, but for someone who loved the original Star Wars, Boba Fett he is not.
@16 I stand by the initial disavowal not being as authoritative in context as it was subsequently taken to be out of context.
@16: Almec’s statement could have been a lie or an exaggeration, but George Lucas wanted that line put in to make it clear Jango wasn’t a Mandalorian, and I doubt they would overturn that. The “side materials” that suggest he was are a papercraft helmet magazine, and a Story Group member has cautioned people not to take it too seriously. As far as they’re concerned, it’s still ambiguous, and Almec’s statement is the best information we currently have.
@17
I hate that they gave Fett a backstory more than anything else, and made him just a copy of another bounty hunter. But yes, nothing against Morrison, I do miss hearing Jason Wingreen’s wicked voice as the original Boba Fett.
Wingreen is unfortunately no longer with us. Though I wouldn’t mind hearing a soundalike.
I’m always glad to see Mr Morrison pop up in something – and if nothing else, it would be interesting to see how fully paid up Mandos deal with the ‘Mandalorian adjacent’ Fett/clone lineage (and vice versa) – though I’m a little confused by this talk of Live Action Ashoka, being under the impression that it was more rumour than fact (and possibly a prank to start with).
Would definitely be interested in seeing how ‘Gun Daddy’ Mandalorian stacks up against Boba Fett – while he’s definitely been blown out of all proportion by Expanded Universe materials, I would love to see the character depicted as somebody who could become the Ultimate Bounty Officer he has so often been depicted as … if only he didn’t have the worst luck.
You know, luck so Bad that an actual blind man somehow managed to hit him.