Lucasfilm's The Book of Boba Fett is the talk of the town right now as the streaming series leads into its finale. The latest Star Wars adventure on Disney+ has captured the minds of fans everywhere, bringing a myriad of cameos from across the Lucasian canon. These include Luke Skywalker, Grogu, and fan-favorite The Clone Wars character Cad Bane.
Bane was a staple of the Star Wars animated series, serving as a villain throughout the show. The bounty hunter, known for being the best marksman in the galaxy, made himself known in Episode 6 of Boba Fett, making his mark by critically injuring Timothy Olyphant's Mos Espa deputy Cobb Vanth.
While it was exciting to see another of Dave Filoni's animated mainstays make the jump to live-action, some were not too impressed with Bane's debut. The character showed up not looking 100% identical to his animated counterpart and these small changes made a contingent of fans quite upset, some going as far as to make some edits of their own.
The Deep-Faked Cad Bane in Boba Fett
On the heels of Cad Bane's controversial live-action debut in the most recent Book of Boba Fett episode, fans responded by releasing a YouTube video showing off what they thought the bounty hunter should have looked like.
The video was posted by Cinema Captures, featuring an altered version of the character in his standoff with Cobb Vanth (played by Timothy Olyphant).
The changes made include a darker blue of Bane's skin along with changes in his facial proportions, making the character's face a little longer.
See the full video below:
A Better Bounty Hunter
While most are not too upset with the changes that were made to Cad Bane in his translation to live-action, it is hard to argue that this edited footage does not improve on what was ultimately offered on screen.
The biggest complaint fans seem to have about the character is his washed-out skin. The dark blue of Clone Wars-era Cad Bane is not present here, instead he sports a much more sun-bleached look. Pairing that with a more rounded head has some all up in arms.
Creator of this edited footage, Cinema Captures, does try to justify the changes that were made in the on-screen product by saying that this all could be "[the character's age] coming though, which could make some sense:
"I imagine the reason for his lighter skin colour and different facial proportions are his age. But I saw a lot of people upset about it so I quickly threw together this edit to show what he’d look like with the look we’re more familiar with."
What this really is is likely the case of is Lucasfilm's aversion to fully CGI characters on Disney+. Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau has noted in the past that they are really making an effort to avoid CG effects with these streaming series, trying to capture that handmade essence of the Original Trilogy.
Now it is hard to fault Favreau, Filoni, and co. for wanting to go back to the world of practical effects with these Disney+ projects, but touches of CG here and there on these characters could really benefit them. This is especially so for these personalities making the jump from the animated vertical of Star Wars.
Looking at Clone Wars, the art style and proportions are so hyper-stylized, and there is no practical way to 100% emulate that in live-action, but a hint of CG elements here and there could help to avoid situations like this.
Book of Boba Fett is available to stream now on Disney+.
