When the mid-credits scene following the Season 2 finale of The Mandalorian officially revealed The Book of Boba Fett spinoff series, fans weren't the only ones it took by surprise.
"Even Disney didn't know we were going to drop it like that," The Book of Boba Fett co-showrunner and director Robert Rodriguez told The Hollywood Reporter. "I got to see the inner workings, and [Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni] kept this a secret from everybody." While top executives at Disney knew about the stinger, it was largely kept from the studio at large.
The Book of Boba Fett was announced following the second season finale of The Mandalorian in December 2020 after the series was left out of that year's Disney Investor Day presentation by Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, where several new Star Wars projects were announced. The Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau later explained why, saying, "We didn't want to spoil the surprise during the big Kathleen Kennedy announcement of all the shows [during Investor Day earlier this month], so they let me keep this one a secret."
The stinger for The Book of Boba Fett took place on Tatooine, which saw Boba taking a seat on Jabba the Hutt's empty throne, with Fennec Shand at his side before cutting to the series title card. In a series of promos that have been released leading up to the show's premiere on Disney+, The Book of Boba Fett will in part focus on Boba Fett and Fennec Shand finding their place in a post-Jabba criminal underworld. As Boba said in the first trailer for the series, "Jabba ruled with fear. I intend to rule with respect."
The series will pick up after Season 2 of The Mandalorian. Another promo, titled "Message," also hinted that The Book of Boba Fett will explore how the bounty hunter survived his fall into the sarlacc pit in Star Wars: Episode IV - Return of the Jedi, after which he was presumed dead.
According to Rodriguez, all of the footage that has been released so far is from the first few minutes of the pilot episode. "We can't use the second half of the first episode because it gives so much away," he said. Rodriguez also stated that, despite the fact that the seven-episode first season of The Book of Boba Fett has not yet aired on Disney+, there is already a possibility of a second season. "If people really love it, I'm sure they'd want to make more," he said, though this has not been confirmed by Lucasfilm or Disney.
The Book of Boba Fett premieres Dec. 29 on Disney+.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter