WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Mandalorian Chapter 5, "The Gunslinger," streaming now on Disney+.
An episode of The Mandalorian that's already received criticism for luxuriating in fan service is also fueling fevered speculation about the return of a classic Star Wars character last seen -- in modern canon, at least -- being consumed by the all-powerful Sarlacc in the Pit of Carkoon. Yes, Boba Fett.
The fifth episode of the Disney+ drama, "The Gunslinger," brings the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) not only to the desert planet Tatooine but to the seedy Mos Eisley cantina in which Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi met Han Solo and Chewbacca. In search of a job to pay for ship repairs, Mando teams up with a young, wannabe bounty hunter named Toro Calican (Jake Cannavale), who hopes he can earn membership to the Guild by bringing in notorious assassin Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). Their mission takes them across the Dune Sea, where they cross paths with Tusken Raiders and their bantha mounts, and a dewback, all of which were introduced in 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope.
However, it's the final scene that really has people talking: A mysterious figure with a cape and spurs approaches the seemingly lifeless body of Fennec Shand, who was shot at point-blank range by Toro and left in the desert. The most likely candidate is, of course, Giancarlo Esposito's Moff Gideon, the former Imperial governor who's featured prominently in the trailers for The Mandalorian, but has yet to appear in the series. But those spurs have some of the franchise faithful placing their money on the return of Boba Fett.
Mind you, spurs aren't the first attribute of the bounty hunter that comes to mind; there's the helmet, the jet pack, the flamethrower. But Boba Fett did, indeed, wear spurs, as highlighted in this video, which includes footage of the character's 1978 screen test. What's more, you can actually hear the jingle in The Empire Strikes Back, when Boba Fett joins Darth Vader in the Cloud City dining room.
A costume accessory, with its telltale jingle-jangle, isn't much on which to base such speculation, but many a popular fan theory has been birthed from far less.
Introduced in 1978 in an animated segment of the Star Wars Holiday Special, the mysterious bounty hunter made his live-action debut in 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, in which he immediately captured the imagination of fans. However, three years later, in Return of the Jedi, Boba Fett met a humiliating end on Tatooine, when he fell into Sarlacc pit, where he was doomed to experience a new definition of pain and suffering, as he was slowly digest over a thousand years. That is, unless you subscribe to Legends lore, in which he survived the ordeal and fought his way out of the Sarlacc, and experienced countless more adventures. But in canon? He's still dead -- or at least he's considered dead.
Recently asked whether The Mandalorian could feature an appearance by Boba Fett, Executive Producer Dave Filoni, who wrote and directed "The Gunslinger," replied that he doesn't like to limit storytelling possibilities. "It would be really hypocritical for the guy that helped bring Darth Maul back to life ... to say that somebody can't survive a Sarlacc pit," added the Lucasfilm veteran, who co-created The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, "but I don't know."
Of course, for that to be Boba Fett strolling into the final scene of the episode, we would have to believe the bounty hunter not only escaped the Sarlacc but has been lurking on Tatooine for the past five years, with no Bounty Hunter Guild and no Jabba the Hutt. Either that, or he escaped the Sarlacc, and has been maintaining a low profile for the past five years, and just happened to be tracking Fennec Shand.
Boba Fett's miraculous resurrection would test the limits of credulity and the murky depths of fan service, and would risk the iconic bounty hunter eclipsing the Mandalorian on his own series. On the other hand, a valiant last stand would provide the once-formidable character with a farewell more fitting than he received in Return of the Jedi. Still, we're wagering the jingling spurs belong to Moff Gideon.
Created by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Giancarlo Esposito, Emily Swallow, Omid Abtahi, Werner Herzog and Nick Nolte. A new episode arrives each Friday on Disney+.