WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Book of Boba Fett "Chapter 1: Stranger In a Strange Land," now available on Disney+.
Until now, Mos Espa has been largely known as the “other” city on Tatooine: the one that isn’t Mos Eisley. Alec Guinness’s famous judgment of the latter spaceport as a “wretched hive of scum and villainy” has stuck in the public mind, and helped define the Star Wars franchise in its game-changing first outing. Mos Espa, on the other hand, simply served as a convenient change in locale for the franchise prequels: giving George Lucas a place to put the film’s signature pod race that wouldn’t conflict with previous information.
The Book of Boba Fett focused on the city during Season 1, Episode 1, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” and in the process gave Star Wars a chance to explore the city anew. It’s a strong exercise in world-building as well as a demonstration of the way new Star Wars projects work to seamlessly integrate with old. In a few brief moments, it also provides hints about how dramatically the city has changed in the decades between its appearances.
Mos Espa first appeared onscreen in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, as Queen Amidala’s party from Naboo seeks shelter and a means of repairing their ship. It looks little different than Mos Eisley upon first glance: laid out along a flat stretch of desert with little geographical variation. The pod race scene adds more topography to it, as the racers zip along canyon walls and through underground tunnels. Some of the establishing shots in the race show dwellings built into the cliff side, which are presumably a part of Mos Espa as well.
The Book of Boba Fett likely chose it owing to its canonical proximity to the Hutts. Jabba oversaw the pod racing there when he was alive, and as Shand notes in “Stranger,” the locals are accustomed to seeing the slug-like crime lords carried around the city on litters. And yet from the very basics of the earlier incarnations, they display a city that looks worlds different. Many of the canyons and great pits have been filled in by buildings, which spread out and connect to the flat desert spaces above.
The question of where Jabba’s podracing track – officially known as the Mos Espa Grand Arena -- is located hasn’t yet been answered, though pinpointing its location could illuminate the city's geography more clearly. According to Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire, a canon novel by Delilah S. Dawson published in 2019, the New Republic outlawed the racing when it regained control of the government. The sport continued on distant Outer Rim worlds, however, which might readily include Tatooine. The presence of the Sanctuary in Mos Espa suggests that gambling and games of chance are still a big part of the city’s economy, and that could include the Arena.
Indeed, the Sanctuary itself provides numerous clues about Mos Espa’s development since The Phantom Menace. It appears much larger and more developed than it did earlier, suggesting that times have been comparatively good for it. (This is in contrast to Mos Eisley’s appearance in The Mandalorian, where it comes across as a shadow of its former self.) More tellingly, a number of Twi’leks hold positions of power. From Garsa Fwip in the Sanctuary to the mayor’s unnamed majordomo, the tentacled aliens seem to be everywhere in the city. Considering that Bib Fortuna controlled Jabba’s empire in the yeas between Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi and The Book of Boba Fett, their overt strength and influence is noteworthy.
The developments help explain why the city bears little resemblance to the one that first appeared in the prequels. Closer examination reveals a more careful construction, suggesting that Mos Espa will remain one of the show’s primary locations, at least for the first season. If so, then the visual development should pay dividends, allowing The Book of Boba Fett to continue the stellar attention to detail that helps make the Star Wars universe work.
Created by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau, Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett stars Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen. New episodes are available on Disney+ every Wednesday.