WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the Season 2 premiere of Star Wars: The Mandalorian, "Chapter 9: The Marshal," streaming now on Disney+.
No sooner was it reported that Star Wars veteran Temuera Morrison would return to play Boba Fett on The Mandalorian than a rumor surfaced contending it would be Timothy Olyphant's Cobb Vanth wearing the bounty hunter's signature armor. The Season 2 premiere, which arrived this morning on Disney+, certainly leads viewers to believe only the latter may true -- at least until its closing moments, when a familiar face gazes upon the twin suns of Tatooine.
On a quest from the Armorer to reunite The Child with "its own kind" -- that is, the Jedi -- Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin (better known as The Mandalorian) sets off to find other Mandalorians, who in turn might point him in the direction of their one-time adversaries, this "race of enemy sorcerers." That leads him back to Tatooine, which, he's promised, is home to a lone Mandalorian, no doubt raising hopes among viewers for that eagerly anticipated Boba Fett cameo. After all, the desert planet was the last place he was seen (in the Star Wars timeline, anyway), presumably being devoured by a sarlacc in Return of the Jedi.
Instead, Mando is directed by Peli Motto (Amy Sedaris, reprising her Season 1 role) to Mos Pelgo, an all-but-forgotten mining town ravaged by raiders in the aftermath of the fall of the Empire. There he finds the town's marshal, wearing remnants of Boba Fett's signature armor. It's obvious from his stance as he darkens the door of the cantina that this isn't the fan-favorite bounty hunter, but rather Timothy Olyphant (Justified, Deadwood) as the aforementioned Cobb Vanth, introduced in Chuck Wendig's 2015 novel, Star Wars: Aftermath.
While that triggered a collective groan of disappointment among Star Wars devotees -- as if millions of voices suddenly cried out -- it gives way to enjoyable episode, in which Mando demands the return of the armor before the two team up to kill the krayt dragon that's been menacing the settlement, and the nearby Tusken Raiders, for years. They ultimately succeed, of course, in spectacular battle involving many explosives and too much regurgitation, but that's neither what moves The Mandalorian's overarching story forward nor gives Boba Fett fans what they want.
No, that comes in the closing moments, as Mando and The Child ride off on their borrowed speeder bike into the sunsets. The camera pans to a shadowy figure in the foreground, who turns to reveal himself as Temuera Morrison, presumably playing a scarred Boba Fett, as initially reported. Sure, it's possible he's one of the Clone Troopers, genetic duplicates of Jango Fett, but given the context, the safe money is, indeed, on Boba.
But how could the former bounty hunter have escaped the Great Pit of Carkoon, to which he was doomed to "find a new definition of pain and suffering" as he was slowly digested over a thousand years? In Legends lore, Boba Fett employs his strong will, and his arsenal, to free himself from the sarlacc. Of course, that 1995 story is no longer in continuity.
However, "The Marshal" may provide some clues: Cobb recounts how he bought the armor from Jawas, who, of course, scavenged it from the desert sands. Mando, in emphasizing the size and ferocity of the krayt dragon, relates that the species inhabits sarlacc pits, after killing their previous owners. Therefore, it's possible the sarlacc of the Great Pit of Carkoon was attacked by its only (we hope) natural predator, which provided a (literal) opening for Boba Fett's escape.
Presumably that mystery will be resolved later in the season, along with whether that was, indeed, Boba Fett in the fifth season of Season 1. The cloak suggests it was, but there's always a chance that Cobb Vanth bought the bounty hunter's spurs, too.
Created by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, with guest stars with guest stars Gina Carano, Carl Weathers and Giancarlo Esposito. Directors for the new season include Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Bryce Dallas Howard, Rick Famuyiwa, Carl Weathers, Peyton Reed and Robert Rodriguez.