We have hardly got to the end of Solo: A Star Wars story, and there’s already talk about a new Boba Fett stand-alone film. The Star Wars universe just can’t seem to take a break, but should we be worried?
What we know
According to the Hollywood Reporter, James Mangold will sit in the director’s seat and co-write the script for the film. For anyone that needs a reminder about Mangold’s pedigree, he’s the guy behind 3:10 to Yuma and Logan, which earned him an Oscar nomination for best adapted screenplay. Does that send a shiver up your spine? It should.
Here’s more. Simon Kinberg, the man that was partly responsible for bringing Deadpool to the big screen, will supposedly be involved in the creative process of the film, which will have nothing to do with Force Awakens and sequels.
Who is Boba Fett?
The green-armoured Mandalorian warrior doesn’t really need an introduction. Well, he does, that’s why we’re having a film about it, but you know what I mean. Trained by his father, Jango, he quickly gained a rep for his notoriety as an accomplished Bounty Hunter. Among his accomplishments was delivering a frozen Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt.
He was initially played by Jeremy Bulloch in “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” and has had several cameos in various spinoff comics and novels. Although he really didn’t do much in the movies, and had an incredibly ridiculous death that a badass like him did not deserve, he quickly went on to becoming a fan favourite. Well, in all fairness, he does look cool, so why not?
The anti-climactic backstory
In 2002, we finally got to see a little bit more about where our beloved bounty hunter came from in Attack of the clones. And it wasn’t great. What it all comes down to, is that Boba is essentially his father with a different coloured suit. That’s like saying Bruce Wayne is basically Thomas Wayne wearing black instead of grey, it’s dull and lacks imagination.
For those of you who remember (I wouldn’t be surprised if you don’t), young Boba was played by some sour-faced kid who kneeled at the body of his decapitated father. For a guy who was supposedly already in training, it really didn’t come through in that film, and so we might as well just forget that there was ever an attempt to introduce his backstory and start with a clean slate.
Mangold’s challenge
I think Rogue One was somewhat there with originality and breaking away from the prequels and that recurring theme of farm boy (or scavenger girl) finding the Force. Here, Mangold has a golden opportunity (pun very much intended) to really bring some of his storytelling depth and experience to Boba’s life and paint him as a whole new character that the fans will love even more.
The real challenge for him would be to step as far away from the prequels as is feasibly possible, and get fully immersed in Boba’s personality. Sure, he can’t completely undo Jango Fett, but what we can hope for is that he finally delivers a character that really lives up to the hype and will go down in history as the most fearsome bounty hunter in all the galaxies, and not the flop whose jetpack backfired, sending him spiralling to his doom.
Who do you think should play Boba in this origins story? Do you think Mangold has what it takes to pull it off? Let us know in the comments section below.
