The Mandalorian showrunner Jon Favreau explained how Boba Fett's fate in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi helped inspire his spinoff series for Disney+.
Speaking to ATX TV (via ComicBook.com), Favreau explained how the stoic bounty hunter sparked his ideas for Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin. "We all loved Boba Fett, but we never got as much of him as we all wanted,” admitted Favreau. "He came to unceremonious and in Return of the Jedi. We wanted somebody that could kind of live up to what we had hoped to see when we were younger."
Boba Fett was introduced in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back as one of the bounty hunters Darth Vader recruited to track down the Millennium Falcon. Despite his now iconic status, Fett only spoke four lines in the original trilogy. Since then, he's appeared in everything from the non-canon Star Wars Holiday Special to Star Wars: The Clone Wars. A young version of Fett popped up in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars favorite Temuera Morrison is rumored to play him in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, despite his "death" in Return of the Jedi.
It's important to remember there also were long-running plans for a Boba Fett movie. Back when Lucasfilm was working on its anthology movies, a Boba Fett standalone was pitched alongside Rogue One and Solo. Josh Trank dropped out at the last minute and the movie was shelved indefinitely. Following the box office disappointment of Solo, the studio shifted focus away from anthology movies. However, The Mandalorian has served as a spiritual successor to the idea of a Boba Fett spinoff and put a different bounty hunter at its center.
Fett won't be the only legacy character coming to the Disney+ series, as Season 2 is also tipped to bring Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan Kryze and Captain Rex into live-action. Whether The Mandalorian will be the end of the road for Boba or his role will continue in the ever-expanding world of Star Wars remains to be seen, but either way, the sharp-shooting bounty hunter clearly made his mark on Favreau.
Created by Jon Favreau, The Mandalorian stars Pedro Pascal, Gina Carano, Carl Weathers and Giancarlo Esposito. Season 1 is available now on Disney+, with Season 2 premiering in October.