Many fans have been speculating that Pedro Pascal‘s loner bounty hunter on ‘The Mandalorian’ (he will only be referred to as “The Mandalorian”) is actually fan-favorite Boba Fett, having escaped his seeming death in the Sarlacc Pit in ‘Return of the Jedi’. (It has been established in many works that this did, in fact, happen, although whether those are still canon is questionable.)
But executive producer Dave Filoni may be here to burst your bubble. Speaking to EW, he said:
“Boba Fett is a clone, according to [Episode II] Attack of the Clones, and by asking [creator George Lucas], he would say Boba Fett is not Mandalorian, not born on Mandalore. He’s more of a person indoctrinated into it, into the way of life, and gets ahold of the armor.”
‘Attack of the Clones’ established that Boba Fett was a clone of Jango Fett, who originated on the planet Kamino. So the fact that the show is called ‘The Mandalorian’ may indicate that the lead character is actually from Mandalore, meaning that he isn’t Boba Fett.
Series creator and EP Jon Favreau further states:
“Our guy is a Mandalorian, and we definitely explore the culture of the Mandalorian.”
Boba Fett was never really fleshed out in the movies. But he was generally viewed as simply a bounty hunter in it for the money. Pascal’s description of his character further seems to indicate that he is likely not Boba.
“Ultimately he wants to do the right thing. But his duties could very much be in conflict with his destiny, and doing the right thing has many faces. It can be a very windy road.”
It was never indicated that Boba had any interest in doing the right thing, but then again, it was never really established that Boba had any interest in anything.
His attempt to do right may be a lot harder than he had hoped. As Favreau added:
“Our guy is operating in a much more unforgiving landscape. A place where survival is difficult enough, let alone flourishing in that atmosphere and the politics have dissolved. It’s ‘might is right.’ And how does somebody earn a living when there’s no structure to society anymore and everything is collapsing in on itself? How do you work your way through the world?”
One thing we do know is that even if The Mandalorian isn’t Boba Fett, the series will pay tribute to the popular bounty hunters from ‘Empire Strikes Back’. Taika Waititi voices spindly droid IG-11, who looks almost identical to IG-88 from the film. And in the photo above, The Mandalorian is shown battling Trandoshans, the reptilian race to which Bossk, another ‘Empire’ mercenary, belonged.
Disney+ launches in just over two months and the first episode of ‘The Mandalorian’ will be available immediately. It all kicks off on November 12.
