The Mandalorian continues to add popular Star Wars characters to the cast for Season 2, according to a new report. Beloved bounty hunter Boba Fett, who famously wore the Mandalorian armor during his appearances in the original trilogy, is making his way to the live-action TV series, and he'll be played by none other than a Star Wars movie star.
Temuera Morrison, a.k.a. Jango Fett and the live-action clones of the Grand Army of the Republic, will play Boba Fett for The Mandalorian, according to THR. He made his Star Wars film debut back in 2002, with Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, although Boba Fett the character was first introduced back in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980.
Boba Fett is allegedly the identity of the person who stood over Ming-Na Wen's Fennec Shand in The Mandalorian Season 1. Although the casting of an existing Star Wars star to play an incredibly popular existing Star Wars character is exciting news from the galaxy far, far away, Boba Fett apparently won't be on board as a regular, as his role is reportedly small.
Based on the events of Attack of the Clones, Temuera Morrison makes sense as the man to bring Boba Fett back to live-action. The movie revealed that Boba Fett was actually a clone of Jango Fett who didn't receive the growth acceleration the resulted in adult clones ready to battle Separatist droids, so he would naturally look like Morrison's Jango Fett.
The age won't be an exact fit, since Temuera Morrison is 59-years-old and Boba Fett would be younger, but Star Wars fans have suspended disbelief for worse, and who knows how a clone's body would age even without the growth acceleration of the clone army? We probably can rule out that Morrison will actually be playing one of the other surviving clones, like Rex. He would look considerably older than Morrison by this point in the post-Revenge of the Sith timeline!
Interestingly, The Mandalorian executive producer Jon Favreau had originally ruled out an appearance from the legendary bounty hunter, saying this to CBR about Boba Fett appearing on the show:
Boba Fett is not. They're all-new, original characters... I'm at a time frame that there's a 30-year stretch of storytime that hasn't been explored at all, except in the Extended Universe.
Since the first season of The Mandalorian was centered on all-new, original characters (unless that figure standing over Fennec Shand is confirmed in canon as Boba Fett), perhaps the second season felt like a safe time to start expanding and adding existing Star Wars characters. Ahsoka Tano of The Clone Wars and Rebels fame is already rumored to appear; add Boba Fett to the mix, and it's starting to feel like just about anybody can appear.
This does raise the question of how Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc pit from the beginning of Return of the Jedi and how it will be addressed on screen. Fans who love Boba Fett might be willing to accept just about anything, but others will likely expect a solid explanation about what happened at that point and what he's been up to since.
The addition of Boba Fett (which will hopefully be officially confirmed by Disney sooner rather than later) means Baby Yoda might have some competition as the most highly-anticipated character coming in Season 2. Fortunately, Season 2 likely won't be delayed due to production halts that have impacted the television industry, as filming has already finished.
Season 2 of The Mandalorian will debut in October on Disney+. For some viewing options set in the galaxy far, far away between now and then, the Disney streamer also offers all the Star Wars movies and the full runs of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. For some non-Star Wars options, be sure to check out our 2020 summer premiere schedule.
