The year has turned a corner to September, bringing Star Wars fans a month closer to The Book of Boba Fett.
By all accounts, the infamous bounty hunter's Disney+ series is going to be big. Director and executive producer Robert Rodriguez has gone so far as to say he can talk the show up all he wants, because it "way over-delivers".
Lucasfilm has been cagey as usual regarding the show, though one can stand to reason that the marketing campaign should be little more than a month away. All reports indicate that The Book of Boba Fett is intended to serve as The Mandalorian Season 2.5, but it appears to be far bigger than that.
When rumors first began circulating about a Boba Fett-centric Disney+ series, the understanding was that it would be a mini-series filling in the gap between Return of the Jedi and The Mandalorian, as well as present day events post-Season 2. However, production gear indicates that the series to come will be Boba Fett Season 1, suggesting that there will be more to follow.
Where Boba's head is at when the series begins will be an interesting element for the series to explore. The hunter taking over Jabba's Palace in The Mandalorian Season 2 finale's credit stinger was a shocking move for a generally independent character, but a new report suggests it's a strong sign of things to come - both in terms of his mindset, and a possible change in appearance...
Boba Fett to Wear New Suit In Quest For Revenge
Star Wars News Net is reporting a rumor that The Book of Boba Fett will be a story of revenge, and the titular character will be sporting new armor for his crusade. Per the outlet, Fett "is in revenge mode" and will be "going after everyone who did him wrong in the past".
SWNN's sources affirmed that the new armor is real, despite Fett's drive to retrieve his old gear in The Mandalorian, and it looks "awesome". It's said that the paint job will be even better than what was seen in The Mandalorian Season 2's finale, and with the expectation of flashbacks, it was suggested that the change could in part be about helping "the audience differentiate" between the past and modern day.
New Look, Same Motive
Since the character's introduction in the prequel trilogy era, Boba Fett's story has always been one of vengeance.
When the young, unaltered clone first appeared in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Boba was taking action to kill Mace Windu and avenge the death of his father, Jango. Though his attempts were unsuccessful, Fett followed in his father's footsteps and went on to become the most notorious bounty hunter in the galaxy.
Despite the claim that he's now "a simple man making my way through the galaxy, like my father before me," becoming a crime lord is a far cry from anything simple. One of the persistent rumors regarding the forthcoming series is that flashbacks will be prominent, with actor Temuera Morrison stating Boba Fett will show what that transpired after The Empire Strikes Back.
This is an oddly specific period of time to refer to, as the natural thought would be that any flashbacks would show what happened to Fett after escaping the Sarlaac that swallowed him in Return of the Jedi. While one could easily be forgiven for assuming Morrison misspoke, recent events from the War of the Bounty Hunters comic show Fett was very busy, and a quest for revenge means he could have his scopes set on just one person:
Qi'ra.
With the new leader of Crimson Dawn having stolen Fett's ultimate prize, Han Solo in carbonite, the hunter's life was made infinitely more difficult in ultimately delivering the captured scoundrel to Jabba the Hutt. Fett swore that he would kill the person responsible for the theft, putting a major target on Qi'ra's back.
While any such plans may have been derailed when Solo knocked his ass into the Sarlaac pit, one thing Star Wars has routinely shown fans is that Boba Fett never forgets. Flashbacks shown in the series could be brief moments from War of the Bounty Hunters that contextualize Boba's motives for the Disney+ series, while simultaneously explaining how Emilia Clarke's character is back after her last on-screen appearance in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Fett's drive for vengeance is very much in character, but getting a new set of armor seems odd.
In his small arc in The Mandalorian Season 2, Boba was hellbent on reacquiring his father's gear, and even gave it a fresh coat of paint upon its return. As he told Mando, "I don't want your armor. I want my armor."
With this in mind, it's highly doubtful that the new crime lord will be ditching his gear so quickly after getting it back. Other than the Slave I, the beskar armor is the last piece of his father that he has, and it won't be cast aside .
What's more likely is that Fett will be giving it a new paint job for a covert operation, in the same way that he made the armor black in the War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha to fight in an arena as "Jango".
Some have speculated that the series could see the live-action debut of Omega, who may don white beskar armor reminiscent of the Boba Fett prototype suit created for The Empire Strikes Back. If that doesn't prove to be the case, then the odds are high that Boba himself will roll with the white gear for a bit. Favreau and Filoni love their references to older Star Wars material; after all, Mando's pulse rifle is based off of Boba Fett's in The Star Wars Holiday Special.
There's something extremely exciting about going into the new series practically blind, similar to the viewing experience for the second half of The Mandalorian Season 2. At this point, there are no expectations beyond the show blowing minds, as Rodriguez has promised it will do. With no clear direction in mind, everything to come will be a surprise, as it should always be. This is the way.
The Book of Boba Fett debuts in December on Disney+.
