WARNING: The following contains spoilers from Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett "Chapter 2: The Tribes of Tatooine,” streaming now on Disney+.
The Book of Boba Fett has done an admirable job of fleshing out both the character and the planet of Tatooine. Fett himself was always very thinly sketched before his extended cameo in The Mandalorian, and the new series has taken full advantage of the opportunity to fill in some significant gaps. In the process, his fate has become intertwined with Tatooine’s, and Star Wars fans are getting a good long look at the franchise’s most storied planet in the process.
It’s both very much by design and an excellent way of separating it from The Mandalorian. Both characters are similar for obvious reasons, but with Boba Fett growing increasingly entangled in the local political scene, his show can stay focused on that planet, while The Mandalorian explores the rest of the galaxy. In the process, The Book of Boba Fett elegantly answers some very big questions about why he’s doing what he’s doing. It serves not only to give him stronger motivation but to explore the details of life on Tatooine as well. By combining the two into its title character, The Book of Boba Fett can develop them both with ease.
Season 2 of The Mandalorian famously ended with Fett and his cohort Fennec Shand killing Bib Fortuna and seizing control of his underworld empire. The criminal Twi’lek had ruled it since the death of Jabba the Hutt in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, leaving Fett with considerable power if he should be able to hold onto it. Yet from that moment, the question arose: Why would Fett want to be a crime boss? He’d previously worked as a bounty hunter like his father Jango, and accrued a reputation throughout the galaxy even before he captured Han Solo and his party during the events of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. Hunting fugitives is a long way from playing Godfather with the local movers and shakers. So the question remains: Why is Fett doing this?
The Book of Boba Fett Season 1, Episode 2, “The Tribes of Tatooine,” provides a concrete answer. After a brief prelude in the present day in which Jabba’s surviving relations pay Fett a call, the remainder of the episode conveys a flashback from the days immediately following his escape from the Sarlacc pit. Having won the trust of the local Tusken Raider tribe, he witnesses an attack from a speeding hover train that leaves several members of the tribe dead. He promises them that he will stop the train, which he accomplishes first by conscripting a quartet of hover bikes from the local gang and then leading a Tusken raiding party on the train itself.
The assault on the train forms the bulk of the episode’s third act, and pays homage to both classic Western train robberies and movies like Lawrence of Arabia, which featured a similar attack on a desert railroad. When they bring the vehicle to a halt, they learn the reason for the train’s attacks. It comes at the behest of spice runners, who use the Tuskens’ territory to move their contraband. Fett tells them they will have to pay a toll if they wish to continue using the route, and that no more Tuskens are to be killed. The act cements his status with the tribe, who honor him by making him one of their own.
In the process, they provide the perfect justification for seizing and holding Jabba’s empire. With the Galactic Empire gone, underworld activity is far less regulated, and while he may have handled one train full of criminals, other groups may soon follow. The first two episodes have shown more than enough potential troublemakers to give the Tuskens similar problems, from Jabba’s sinister “twin” cousins to the duplicitous mayor of Mos Espa. Acting as the ruling “daimyo” of that territory gives Fett the power to protect the Sand People’s home and keep them safe from incursions by off-worlders.
That’s not official -- at least not yet -- but “The Tribes of Tatooine” makes it clear how important the Tuskens have become to Fett. That could be seen as early as his celebrated return to canon Star Wars in The Mandalorian Season 2, Episode 1, “The Marshal,” where he appeared with a Tusken gaffi stick and rifle slung across his back. It indicated that the Tuskens were a more integral part of his identity than they were before he fell into the Sarlacc pit, which “Tribes of Tatooine” have now confirmed. The change wrought by Fett’s association with the Tuskens is huge, and whatever his reasons for taking Jabba’s place are, they have to take that into account.
To see Boba become one of the tribe, The Book of Boba Fett is now streaming on Disney+.