Boba Fett is Star Wars' biggest badass, right? That's the general consensus, though The Book of Boba Fett delivered a version of the bounty hunter who was more fallible than some fans of this Galaxy Far, Far Away expected. Talking to Vanity Fair (via SFFGazette.com) Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau shared their take on the mystique surrounding Fett and offered takes some might deem...controversial!
"Boba Fett calls Darth Vader to capture Han Solo, he doesn’t capture Han Solo," Filoni argued. "He gets on the phone and he says, ’Come here and get Han Solo, I found him.' It’s funny when you say [Fett] stands up to Darth Vader. Does he do that? I think he was hired and Vader tells him, ‘No disintegrations,’ and he’s like, '...Okay.' I love Boba Fett but even when I was a kid, the idea that he fell into the Sarlacc pit never disappointed me because I’m like, 'The story is not about him.'"
Some people might not appreciate these comments, but Filoni isn't wrong. Despite the huge amount of fans Fett has accumulated over the years, he was a little useless in those original movies. Filoni's take might go some way towards explaining why, despite being undeniably formidable, he was far from the unstoppable force many hoped to see in his Disney+ series. Favreau, meanwhile, has his own thoughts on the character.
"Boba Fett is a lot of different things to a lot of different people," the filmmaker muses. "I grew up with Boba Fett as a faceless, quiet, mysterious bounty hunter. All we knew was that he was scary enough that Darth Vader saw him as somebody to set out after Han Solo."
"Then by the time you hit the second movie that Boba was in, Return of the Jedi, that was a different version of the character," Favreau continued. "He got knocked into the Sarlacc pit and passed away. I think people assumed he would’ve lasted longer in that situation."
Despite not being everything every Star Wars fan wanted, The Book of Boba Fett added a lot of layers to its title character. It also set him up as Tatooine's new crimelord, so while he may have got the short end of the stick in Return of the Jedi, the anti-hero certainly isn't doing too bad for himself these days.
What's your take on Boba Fett's status in the wider Star Wars Universe?