Boba Fett may still be among the more popular characters of the Star Wars franchise, but one honor that won't be bestowed upon the bounty hunter is his own movie. It was announced last week that the long-talked about Boba Fett "Anthology" spinoff is 100% dead, putting the character's onscreen future in question. But if Boba Fett's cinematic adventure had moved forward, supposedly he would have been joined by other notorious bounty hunters from a galaxy far, far away.
In its writeup of the Boba Fett movie's cancellation, EW mentioned that the project would have focused on Boba and the "menagerie of bounty hunters" who appeared with him in The Empire Strikes Back nearly 40 years ago. That wording makes it sound like rather than making cameos, these other bounty hunters would have had notable supporting roles within the movie. Assuming the information is true, this also confirms that like Rogue One and Solo, the Boba Fett spinoff would have been a prequel tale set before the Original Trilogy rather than set post-Return of the Jedi.
For those who need a refresher on The Empire Strikes Back, after Han Solo, Leia Organa, Chewbacca and C-3PO, despite having a broken hyperdrive, managed to evade Darth Vader's forces and hide in a huge asteroid, the Sith Lord gathered Boba Fett, IG-88, Dengar, 4-LOM, Zuckuss and Bossk together, offering a reward to whoever could track down the Rebel fugitives. You can watch that moment below.
16 years after The Empire Strikes Back's release, all these characters were explored in-depth in the anthology book Tales of the Bounty Hunter, and they made numerous other appearances in Star Wars media. However, since the Legends continuity was scrapped after Disney acquired the Star Wars franchise, all of those backstories, with the exception of events depicted in the movies and the Clone Wars TV series, were wiped from the canon.
Within the now-official Star Wars continuity, IG-88, Dengar, 4-LOM, Zuckuss and Bossk have made several other appearances, but this Boba Fett movie would have been an interesting opportunity to spotlight them for a wider audience. Obviously Boba would have remained the main subject, but at least we could have learned more about the bounty hunter community and thus paved the way for them to become more prominent within the Star Wars mythology.
Alas, with the Boba Fett movie scrapped, those plans have been thrown out the proverbial window. That's not to say that these other bounty hunters couldn't appear in future novels, comic books, TV shows or video games, but for now, don't expect to see them grace the silver screen anytime soon. It might have also been cool to see these characters show up in Solo 2, but given how Solo performed financially, that sequel's unlikely to be made.
The Boba Fett movie was first reported on back in early 2014, and a year later, Josh Trank was hired to direct an unnamed Star Wars spinoff, which was generally believed to this project. Things were reportedly so far along that Disney had a special preview ready to show at the 2015 Star Wars Celebration, but by May 2015, Trank departed the spinoff. Trank attributed his exit to wanting to go down a different creative path, but unofficially, it was said there were creative differences behind the scenes.
For the next three years, there weren't any substantial updates about a Boba Fett movie, but then this past May, it was reported that Logan director James Mangold would write and direct this spinoff. Mangold debunked those claims a few months later, and fast-forward to now, this particular Star Wars spinoff is officially kaput.
As for why we're not getting a Boba Fett movie anymore, it's because Disney and Lucasfilm are now redirecting their attention to The Mandalorian, the live action Star Wars TV series being developed for the Disney streaming service. As revealed by showrunner Jon Favreau, the series will take place after the Empire's fall and follow an lone gunslinger in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far away from the New Republic's authority. Dave Filoni, Taika Waititi, Deborah Chow, Bryce Dallas Howard and Rick Famuyiwa are all attached to direct episodes.
Given how similar The Mandalorian and this Boba Fett movie could have been, it makes since why Lucasfilm decided to shelve the latter, especially since there are plenty of other Star Wars movies in development, like the Rian Johnson-helmed trilogy and the film series that Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are working on. As of now, there are no established Star Wars characters announced to appear in The Mandalorian, but this show may provide an opportunity to spotlight the likes of IG-88, Dengar, 4-LOM, Zuckuss, Bossk and maybe even Boba.
Since The Mandalorian will be exploring the criminal underworld side of the Star Wars universe, it would be easy enough to throw these bounty hunters into the mix, be it in the first season or in future ones. It's not hard to imagine this unnamed protagonist running into one or more of them during his adventures, though given how the bounty hunting business is, there's hardly any guarantee they'd be allies with him.
Granted, we don't know yet exactly how long after Return of the Jedi The Mandalorian takes place. It could be anywhere from a few years to a couple decades, but that shouldn't pose an issue for these bounty hunters showing up, especially since most of them have extended life spans compared to humans. In Boba Fett's case, we still haven't officially learned if he managed to crawl out of the Sarlacc Pit, but since his movie is now gone, The Mandalorian is the next best alternative for the character to make his grand return.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all the latest and biggest updates concerning the Star Wars franchise. Take a look through our handy guide to see what Star Wars movies are still in development, and if you're interested about what non-space opera cinematic fare is heading to theaters over the next year, you'll find that information in our 2018 and 2019 release schedules.
