The Untold Truth Of Boba Fett
He has had so many titles over his lifetime: Alpha clone, bounty hunter, Mandalorian, a Sarlacc's lunch. But despite being introduced unceremoniously in a parade and the cringeworthy "Star Wars Holiday Special," then receiving only four lines of dialogue (and a scream) in the original trilogy, the antiheroic figure of Boba Fett has loomed large over the fandom of a galaxy far, far away with an almost cult-like following.
In its simplest terms, the origins of Boba Fett go like this: He's the unaltered clone/son of Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett, he spent much of the Clone Wars trying to get revenge against Jedi Mace Windu for his father's death, he was hired by Darth Vader to track down Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, he supposedly died after falling into a Sarlacc Pit on Tatooine, he survived and teamed up with Mandalorian Din Djarin post-Empire and he returned to Jabba the Hutt's palace to kill Bib Fortuna and claim his spot on the gangster's throne.
The fandom of Fett (most recently played by Temuera Morrison), not surprisingly, exploded even further following his reappearance on "The Mandalorian." He may have lost his iconic green and red armor to some Jawas and then marshal Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), but the series showed him gaining a lethal partner in Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) after saving her life.
With the galaxy's most famous bounty hunter finally getting his own series on Disney Plus — "The Book of Boba Fett" — love for the armored antihero continues to skyrocket higher than the deploying weapon strapped to his back. But with a history this long, there are many details about Fett and the creation of the character that even diehard fans may not know.
His first appearance was at a county fair
Most people know that Boba Fett made his first live-action Star Wars appearance in 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back." More than a decade later, he was digitally inserted into the original "Star Wars" movie. Really savvy Fett fans may even be able to tell you his first appearance on screen ever was in an animated segment during the "Star Wars Holiday Special" that aired in 1978 on CBS. But none of those are actually the first time the public got to meet Boba Fett.
Boba Fett's first public appearance was, bizarrely enough, on September 24, 1978, at the San Anselmo County Fair parade. San Anselmo was the home of Lucasfilm at the time, and George Lucas felt like having the characters in the local parade was a great idea. Duwayne Dunham was the man in the armor, his day job was assistant film editor on both "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi," and he nearly fell down as Boba Fett descended his first public steps.
"What I remember about that day is it was incredibly hot," he told StarWars.com in 2014. "I'm not just talking about the suit, I'm saying that day in San Anselmo was really hot. It could have been 100 degrees. I think we were at the head of the parade. And Vader, he stands out. I don't know what people thought of me. Nobody knew about Boba Fett at that point. The two of us were about to die at that point. Sweat was just pouring. I remember telling [producer] Gary Kurtz: 'Gary, I gotta get out of this suit or I'm going to pass out!' We were drenched."
Nevertheless, Boba Fett's spiffy armor and dazzling array of weaponry was an instant hit. Lots of people still wanted autographs, even though they had no idea who the character was.
He's had more than one origin story
Most Star Wars fans are pretty secure about the origin story of their favorite bounty hunter — after all, everything was spelled out by 2002's "Attack of the Clones." Boba Fett is the unaltered clone of legendary bounty hunter Jango Fett, raised as his son and eventually taking his own place in the galaxy as a bounty hunter after Mace Windu decapitates his dad.
However, Star Wars had already developed a rich, extended universe of novels, comics, and games well before the prequels came around, and Boba Fett had a previous origin already laid out. Originally, his real name was Jaster Mereel, a man from the planet Concord Dawn. It was on this planet that he served as a kind of policeman (specifically, a Journeyman Protector) who killed his corrupt superior officers. He was charged as a murderer and kicked off the planet, eventually being taken in by the Mandalorians and becoming the character audiences know and love.
After "Attack of the Clones" came out, the character of Jaster received a retcon and became an honor-driven Mandalorian (retaining most of his original origin of exile from Concord Dawn) who took a young Jango Fett under his wing after Jango's parents were murdered by the Death Watch, a group of fanatical Mandalorians. In a bit of irony, Jango's father had taken over after Mereel was exiled, mimicking the fact that Boba Fett's new origin replaced Mereel's original role.
He was the original action figure controversy
Nowadays, when Star Wars has an action figure controversy, it usually revolves around the representation of women: depending on who you talk to, Star Wars either shows too much (when it comes to numerous representations of the gold-bikini Leia Organa) or too little (when it comes to alleged shortages of Rey figures on the shelves). However, the original Star Wars action figure controversy not only concerned Boba Fett, but how most older fans first found out about the mysterious bounty hunter.
While some Star Wars fans may have had the misfortune of seeing Fett on "The Star Wars Holiday Special" in 1978, most found out about Fett when he was a heavily-advertised mail-away action figure released in 1980, obtainable only by mailing in proofs of purchase of four other Star Wars figures.
Just one small problem: In all of that advertising, the Fett figure was portrayed with a rocket-firing backpack. Despite the fact that the movie Boba Fett never fired that rocket, fans were understandably quite upset at not receiving the firing Fett they were promised.
Behind the scenes, the newly-emerging movie/TV-toy-tie-in industry was going through some tragic growing pains. In late 1978, Mattel had to add safety labels to the packaging of their "Battlestar Galactica" toys after reports that 3 children had aspirated on small missiles involved with the items. A few days later, a fourth child died, with the death certificate reportedly mistakenly listing the cause of death as a Star Wars toy. The problem, it seems, is that young children were shooting the rockets into their mouths. After another near death, Mattel issued a recall of the firing "Galactica" toys — right around the same time Kenner had hoped to unveil their rocket-firing Boba Fett. Further complicating the issue, the Fett toy kept failing to pass Kenner's internal safety guidelines.
All these factors came together to result in a not-firing Fett being released, along with a note reading "The launcher has been removed from the product for safety reasons." Those factors also came together to create an urban legend with multiple variations, many stating that some child had lost an eye to one of the rocket-firing Fetts, leading to their recall.
None of this is true, but the urban legend very much became a thing, which made some Star Wars fans interpret a perceived reference in the Season 2 premiere of "The Mandalorian," when Cobb Vanth (wearing Boba Fett's armor) fires the rocket into the eye of the Krayt dragon.
In real life, Kenner did produce some prototypes of the rocket-firing figure, which were never sold but have nonetheless surfaced and been described as "The Holy Grail" of Star Wars collectibles (one sold in 2020 for over $62,000). Hasbro eventually made things right decades later when they released an actual rocket-firing Boba Fett as part of their Vintage Collection. He, too, was a mail-away figure, and as Vader might say, the circle was now complete.
He had many adventures before putting on the helmet
For those who only watch the Star Wars movies, Boba Fett's history seems very fragmented. He is only a part of one of the prequels and two of the original trilogy movies, with little explanation of what happened between witnessing his father's death and becoming the most badass bounty hunter in the galaxy. However, one source provides some interesting illumination on the young Fett's continuing adventures, and that is the "Star Wars: Clone Wars" cartoon.
"Clone Wars" has the somewhat dubious honor of surviving the great purge of the original Star Wars extended universe. That universe had been building through various novels, comics, and games for years, and served as mostly canonical unless it was superseded by later movies (like Boba Fett's origin being dramatically different). On the eve of 2015's release of "The Force Awakens," Disney clarified that none of these old extended universe stories were "official" anymore save for broadcast media, including "Clone Wars."
That cartoon portrayed Fett as working with the Trandoshan bounty hunter Bossk and other shady characters such as Aurra Sing. One of young Fett's understandable goals was to avenge Jango by killing Mace Windu, and he was imprisoned after failing in this task. However, the resourceful young warrior was able to eventually escape and go back to learning the ways of bounty hunting.
George Lucas didn't think fans would like Boba Fett
It may be hard for Fett fanatics to fathom, but George Lucas had no idea that Boba Fett would become a fan-favorite. Lucas later expressed his surprise at this explosion of popularity for — as he put it on the "Return of the Jedi" commentary track — "just another one of the minions."
"In the case of Boba Fett's death, had I known he was gonna turn into such a popular character, I probably would've made it a little bit more exciting," Lucas says on the track. "He became such a favorite of everybody's that, for having such a small part, he had a very large presence. And now that his history has been told in the first trilogy, it makes it even more of a misstep that we wouldn't make more out of the event of his defeat."
It's an interesting admission from Lucas, because it answers the age-old question of why such a cool character experienced such an ignominious end. The short answer: to Lucas, his death deserved as little attention as any of the other thugs and aliens that Luke and his friends dispatched.
For his part, the first man to publicly wear the Boba Fett suit (and editor on "Return of the Jedi") remembered in a 2014 interview that he was part of a vocal contingent who tried to talk Lucas out of it. "Everybody had high, high hopes because Boba was such a cool-looking costume. Outside of Vader, it was the best," explained Duwayne Dunham. "For some reason it just didn't pan out as George had imagined, and then came 'Jedi,' it was 'throw him in the Sarlaac [sic] pit!' We kinda mounted a protest saying 'You can't do that to Boba Fett! He's deserving of more!' But they threw him in."
Later on the "Jedi" commentary track, Lucas admits he came close to adding a scene to "Jedi" during the Special Edition sessions that would have shown Boba Fett crawling out of the Sarlacc Pit. "Most people don't believe he died anyway," Lucas said of his late-'90s revisionism. "I'd contemplated putting in that extra shot in where he climbs out of the hole, but y'know I figure that's ... it doesn't quite fit, in the end."
Ultimately, fans are probably thankful. After all, Fett's re-emergence in "Mandalorian" wouldn't have been nearly as effective if fans had already seen him climb out of the Sarlacc's mouth in the late '90s.
Originally his armor was all white
For some reason, Lucas really liked the idea of dudes in white armor. Stormtroopers in pearly white plates make up a huge portion of the original trilogy, and Boba Fett was going to be no different if his original design — illustrated by Ralph McQuarrie — had been included. The features that made him look unique to your average Stormtrooper were present — like a cool jetpack and a more narrow, sinister visor — but it was all bright, shiny white.
"The character evolved ... the all-white [version] was just another stormtrooper, a supertrooper," recalled Dunham (whose arm caught fire while testing the propane on Fett's flame-thrower) in 2014. "But as the character evolved, when he got painted ... it was so cool."
In another tidbit worth noting, much of Fett's design came from Joe Johnson — who would later go on to make such films as "The Rocketeer" and "Captain America: The First Avenger." You can see footage of the "temporary costume" all-white Boba Fett in this 1978 video of Dunham in the suit, being "interviewed" by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt — who would later add the sound effect of spurs to Fett in "Empire" to further the effect of him being a kind of Clint Eastwood/The Man With No Name of outer space, a ball "The Mandalorian" would pick up and run with decades later.
He and Vader have tried to kill each other
For fans who have only seen the original trilogy, it would seem that Boba Fett and Darth Vader have a very amicable relationship. Fett seems to have status and a history with the Dark Lord as a kind of favorite contractor for the Empire. However, readers of the Star Wars comics over the years have witnessed the rather unforgettable sight of Vader and Fett trying to all-out murder each other.
In the 1999 Dark Horse Comics series "Boba Fett: Enemy of the Empire," the two Star Wars icons were fighting over the severed-but-still-talkative head of an alien queen that was able to predict the future. Boba Fett was hired to retrieve this head in a box, while Vader wanted it as a tool for his eventual overthrow of Emperor Palpatine. The two came to blows, with Vader deflecting blaster bolts and cutting Fett's getaway speeder in half. Fett, in turn, fired much of his arsenal at Vader and even managed to shrug off an attempt at Sith mind control.
Fett ultimately managed to non-fatally shoot Vader in the head, at which point Vader Force-choked Fett. The only way he got out of it was by throwing the head in a box towards some nearby lava (you'd think Vader, of all people, would stay away from lava) and jetpacking to safety while Vader used the Force to retrieve it. It's not clear how the two went from nearly killing each other to a pleasant work relationship; perhaps they bonded over how difficult it is to go to the bathroom while wearing armor.
He confirmed Darth Vader had a son
His first job for Darth Vader wasn't tracking down the Millennium Falcon and Han Solo in order to lure Luke Skywalker into a trap. Fett's first bounty for the Sith lord was actually hunting down the (then unknown to Vader) Rebel pilot who blew up the Death Star.
2015's "Star Wars" #6 — set between "A New Hope" and "Empire Strikes Back" — is an issue full of shocking twists and reveals, including Fett's first tussle with Luke. Fett's hunt for the Rebel pilot leads him to Tatooine, where he doesn't succeed in capturing the pilot but does learn his name: Luke Skywalker.
When he relays this information to Vader, the Sith lord clenches his fist and causes a huge crack to break out in the glass in front of him. This exchange in the comic shows Fett was the one to confirm Darth Vader's son was alive and working with the rebels.
He has a wide array of knickknacks
You can tell by looking at Fett that he's pretty well-armored and carries a lot of gear. His go to weapon of choice is an EE-3 carbine rifle. Also close at hand are a disruptor pistol and a concussion grenade launcher. Then there's the flamethrower, dart launcher, fiber-cord wrist launcher gauntlet, vibro-blades, concussive rocket and a jet pack. Fett's helmet allows for full 360-degree vision. It interfaces with his ship's computer, provides water, can seal for changes in atmospheric pressure, record video and amplify sound. The armor itself is designed to resist the elements and minimize impact from anything including blaster fire, while the gauntlets are decked out with a host of different types of rockets — most of which are meant to stun rather than kill, since a bounty hunter can't get paid if he blows up his prey.
Of course, most of this never made it onto film and, realistically, Fett did almost nothing in the original trilogy beyond looking pretty cool and then selling Han Solo down the river to Jabba. But it was a love of the character's potential that inspired writers in the Expanded Universe to flesh him out.
He's had many ships
This is a small, but interesting, detail that comes from the Dark Horse Star Wars comics. Boba Fett is apparently very fond of naming his ships Slave; so fond, in fact, that when we first meet him onscreen, he's flying the imaginatively named Slave IV, which is the same type of vessel as his clone dad Jango's original ride, Jaster's Revenge.
Those other Slaves have some interesting stories attached, too: Slave II was pulled into duty because his original was impounded, and Slave III was used for helping Fett retrieve ships and other massive cargo.
Of course, this "legacy" has since been retconned out of existence by Disney. In June of 2021, reports indicated that the corporate owners of the Star Wars universe had become reluctant to use the world "Slave" in regards to Boba Fett's ship.
His ship has a new name
Following the aforementioned Twitter uproar over Boba Fett's ship changing its name, the "Slave I" is now called "Boba Fett's Starship." That's according to new LEGO Star Wars Mandalorian sets. LEGO Star Wars Design Director Jens Kronvold Frederiksen and Lead Designer Michael Lee Stockwell also confirmed the name change in an interview with Jedi News.
The two said that while the change wasn't formally announced publicly, the ship's former name "is just something that Disney doesn't want to use anymore."
"Boba Fett's Starship" is a Republic-era Firespray 31 class spacecraft previously owned by Fett's father, Jango Fett, during the Clone Wars. Like Fett's cache of tools and weapons on his person, the "Starship" is highly-customized and armed to the teeth with both subtle and striking weaponry. One of the most unique features of the "Starship" is its ability to rotate on a gimbal, flying vertically in the air and space while landing horizontally — all while keeping the pilot's seat and cargo area facing upright.
The "Starship" first appeared in "Empire Strikes Back" and popped up frequently in "The Clone Wars" series, in various Star Wars comic books and novels and in the second "Mandalorian" season.
He's one of the worst parts of the Special Editions
The release of the Special Editions of the Star Wars movies inspired a decidedly mixed reaction among fans. For younger moviegoers, this was their first opportunity to see the original trilogy in theaters. At the same time, though, was this really the original trilogy?
Some of the changes George Lucas made as CG technology had finally reached the point where he felt comfortable using it for tinkering were understandable, and even necessary. Some shots suffered from a guerrilla filmmaking approach to Star Wars (such as the Vaseline smeared on a camera lens to achieve the original floating speeder effect). However, others ranged from gratuitous, such as adding new floating droids that distracted from iconic scenes, all the way to the outrageous: Greedo trying to shoot Han Solo first, complete with an edited laser dodge from Han that came straight out of the Matrix. Boba Fett's added material, however, is considered by fans to be among the worst elements of the Special Editions.
The first new Fett footage was added to "A New Hope," in the added scene with Jabba the Hutt. It was filmed for the original movie using a very human Jabba, and Lucas used his CGI magic to put the scene back in with the space slug audiences know and love. Boba Fett was digitally added, but had no interaction with Solo because the character didn't exist when it was filmed; this was just Lucas throwing out a gratuitous glimpse. No changes were made to "Empire Strikes Back" in regards to Fett, but in "Return of the Jedi," there are now scenes of Fett leering at Jabba's dancers and playfully touching a dancer on the chin as he walks out.
What's wrong with this, you ask? A large part of what made Boba Fett scary was that he seemed to have no human weaknesses or vices, just a relentless dedication to his goal. In fact, the only excess he seems given to is a propensity for disintegrating his enemies, which Vader chides him for. These Special Edition tweaks, however, present him just like any other guy, distracted by the beautiful women around him. While this does open the door for fan theories about his getting knocked into the Sarlacc because he was distracted by Leia's gold bikini, it also reveals that years after Lucas was first surprised by the fan love for the character, he still didn't understand what made the aloof bounty hunter so cool in the first place.
Boba and Jango had their own language
There are many different languages in Star Wars, and a special code shared between Fett and his father, Jango Fett, is one of them.
Fett Code is briefly heard in "Episode II: Attack of the Clones," when Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi meets the two at their home on Kamino. Jango speaks to his son in Fett Code as Obi-Wan questions the bounty hunter about any recent trips to Coruscant and his feelings about the clone army created in his image. It's not clear exactly what Jango tells his son in Fett Code, but it's clear it was instruction to close a nearby closet containing Jango's Mandalorian armor.
The code is never heard or spoken of again, implying that Fett Code was probably created by Jango to privately converse with his son. Jango was killed later in the film in a battle between the Separatists and Jedi on Geonosis.
Fett Code was first identified as a specific language in a 2019 video on the Star Wars Kids YouTube channel titled "Every Language in Star Wars."
He became leader of the Mandalorians
For a long time, the actual history of the Mandalorians was something of a moving target in Star Wars fandom. Whenever some cool history and backstory was laid out in an '80s/'90s/'00s novel or comic, a movie or cartoon episode would quickly nullify it. When Disney purchased the Star Wars franchise and issued clarification on what's canon, many things were nullified again — and now, "The Mandalorian" series (and "The Book of Boba Fett") are laying down new foundations that seem to be etching such stories in stone, finally.
But, one interesting bit of Mandalorian history that came about in those pre-Disney days was the tale of how Boba Fett became their leader, a person known by the title "Mandalore."
As told in the 2006 – 2008 "Legacy of the Force" book series, Fett gained this status through a bizarre tale in which he was hired to kill the existing Mandalorian leader, but only did so as an act of mercy. That leader, Shysa, saved Fett's life on the planet Shogun but was mortally wounded in the process. Fett killed Shysa to provide a quick and honorable death, but he was also bound to honor his last request: that Boba Fett become the new Mandalore. The position did not include day-to-day administration, but it did require general leadership, especially in times of crisis.
As such, Fett helped Mandalorians fight back against the alien Yuuzhan Vong invaders. He later helped economically restore Mandalore by recalling the various scattered clans to a central location and aiding them in locating a valuable new mineral with which they could regain strength after losing many of their warriors and resources fighting the Vong.
Will any of this ever be referenced/resurrected in future Boba Fett adventures? Only time will tell.
He trained Han and Leia's daughter in the Expanded Universe
Another interesting (but no longer canon) Boba Fett story is likely to never make it to a screen near you because it involves the daughter of Han and Leia: Jaina Solo.
In the Star Wars novels, Han and Leia had twins, Jacen and Jaina, and a younger son, Anakin. Eventually, Jacen Solo turns to the Dark Side and takes up the name of Darth Caedus. Realizing that she doesn't know anything about hunting, fighting, or killing Jedi, Jaina turns to a much older Boba Fett for training. With the help of Fett and others, Jaina is able to kill Jacen and restore peace to the galaxy. This story also gave Fett an interesting overall story arc, as without his long and storied history of killing Jedi, the galaxy would have been thrust into darkness forever.
Of course, we now know that none of these offspring — or this storyline — was picked up in the most recent trilogy, Episodes VII – IX. So, if you're looking for a scene where Boba Fett is training Han and Leia's kids, you might be holding your breath long enough to take a swim down to Otoh Gunga.
He's fallen into the Sarlacc Pit twice
Despite being one of the most notorious, feared bounty hunters in the galaxy, Boba Fett had a very unglamorous "death" in "Return of the Jedi." Killed almost by accident when a temporarily-blinded Han Solo swung wildly and hit his jetpack, Fett tumbled into the Sarlacc Pit on Tatooine — and adding insult to injury, the film features a laugh-line where the Sarlacc belches after receiving its meal. Fett's fall into the Sarlacc's maw was supposed to indicate an agonizingly slow death and digestion inside the massive desert creature.
But as Star Wars fans now know, Fett miraculously survived the Sarlacc and made a triumphant return in Season 2 of "The Mandalorian."
Fett's fall in "Return of the Jedi" is canon, but the non-canon Expanded Universe (now called Legends) had a great, classic comic book depicting how the bounty hunter escaped the Pit of Carkoon and, unfortunately, fell right back in.
In 1983's "Star Wars #81: Jawas of Doom," Fett escapes the pit using his jetpack. Injured and dazed, some nearby Jawas pick him up and put him inside their massive Sandcrawler. Inside is also R2-D2, whom Han Solo, Leia and Luke come to rescue from the speeding crawler. At one point, Han finds Fett and tries to help him, but Fett attacks and is left behind as the Sandcrawler speeds right into the Sarlacc Pit.
He lost Han Solo frozen in carbonite
Transporting the slab of Han Solo frozen in carbonite from Bespin to Tatooine wasn't as easy as the Star Wars movies made it seem. A lot went down for Boba Fett and his precious cargo in between "Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi," and it's all explored in the "War of the Bounty Hunters" crossover comic series.
In the first issue, Fett has the Solo slab stolen from him on Nar Shaddaa, where the bounty hunter made a pit stop to get help fixing the carbonite coffin. Through the rest of the series, Fett has to face off against the worst of the galaxy's criminal underworld, including the one who hired him, Jabba the Hutt. "War of the Bounty Hunters" also featured the shocking return of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate and its leader Qi'ra, Solo's former flame.
While we know how this story ends — with Solo propped up in Jabba's palace like a trophy — the comic series brought together every single major player in the Star Wars universe during the era of the Empire. At its center is Fett, who is just trying to reclaim and keep what's his.
He's not a Mandalorian
Boba Fett isn't a born and raised Mandalorian, but that hasn't stopped him from being the armored fighter everyone thinks of when they think of Mandalorians.
Fett is an exact clone of his father, Jango, who was a foundling of the Mandalorians. Foundlings were a key part of Mandalorian culture, in which the planet's warriors adopted orphaned children and raised them as Mandalorians. Din Djarin in "The Mandalorian" is, similarly, a foundling.
Jango's traditional Mandalorian armor is passed down to Fett following the former bounty hunter's death at the hands of Jedi Mace Windu. The original armor was all-over silver Beskar metal with the helmet featuring blue stripes along the viewpoints. Fett later customized his father's armor with new green and red paint and added even more tools and weapons to his belt.
In "The Mandalorian," Fett is open about not being Mandalorian but still wearing the armor because it was given to him by his father.
Mark Hamill asked George Lucas to make Boba Fett Luke's mom
This strange anecdote actually came from Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. In Twitter exchanges in 2018, Hamill shared that he once pitched to Star Wars creator George Lucas to have the Fett character be Luke's real mother underneath the helmet.
"I have always been more than willing to generously share my many, many terrible ideas in the off-chance we might stumble across one that could actually be useful," Hamill tweeted, noting that at the time of his pitch, he didn't yet know Leia was Luke's sister.
Hamill also said the suggestion was "the only way we could top Vader being my father" and that he pictured the character "as a double-agent working clandestinely for the Rebels."
This revelation was prompted by "Tatooine Suns: A Star Wars" podcast, which was discussing fan theory and tweeted at Hamill that one of its hosts brought up the Fett-Luke's mom theory, likely referencing a 2004 interview with CHUD.
Boba Fett was almost Anakin's brother
Boba Fett may not have been revealed as Luke Skywalker's mother, but the bounty hunter was almost written as Anakin Skywalker's stepbrother.
In the book "Skywalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas," it is revealed the Star Wars creator considered making Fett and Anakin related. Though the biography came out in 1983, Lucas was reportedly already considering ideas for prequel films to his original trilogy. According to Lucas's ex-wife Marcia, "George had Boba Fett and Vader being brothers in the prequels."
But the idea was ultimately deemed "too hokey" and scrapped. Anakin Skywalker (later Darth Vader) did have a stepbrother however, in Owen Lars. Owen was the son of Cliegg Lars and the stepson of Shmi Skywalker, Anakin's mother. Owen and his wife Beru took a baby Luke Skywalker in after the death of Padme Amidala and Anakin's transition to the dark side.
He's been portrayed by eight actors
You'd think Darth Vader would have taken the record for most actors portraying the same character from childhood through adulthood. But Boba Fett really wins that award since, for the most part, whoever fit into the armor got to play him onscreen.
Jeremy Bulloch played Fett through most of the character's onscreen life. When he missed filming for a single day, stuntman John Morton filled in, while Jason Wingreen provided his voice. For the special editions, he was later dubbed by Temuera Morrison, who played Jango Fett in the prequels and would later return for "The Mandalorian."
For those infamous, aforementioned Special Editions inserts, George Lucas required more Fett footage, but it was decided that flying Bulloch in would be a waste of money. Instead they just used various Industrial Light and Magic employees who could fit into the armor, much like Duwayne Dunham had in the early days. Mark Austin, a creature animator, Don Bies, a model maker, and Nelson Hall, the assistant manager of the model shop all took turns on Fett duties. Last but not least, in the prequels, we got to meet Little Boba who was played by Daniel Logan. Logan later provided the voice for Boba Fett in the "Clone Wars" cartoon.
He fought zombies in the Expanded Universe
The non-canon Star Wars Expanded Universe is, well, expansive. Through hundreds of comics and books, nearly every possible major and minor character in Star Wars gets the full backstory treatment, including almost every alien seen in the Mos Eisley Cantina. The one who tried to pick a fight with Luke Skywalker, Cornelius Evazan, was written as an evil, zombie-creating scientist in "Galaxy of Fear."
In the teen horror series, Cornelius Evazan worked with the Empire on Project Starscream to create an army of zombie soldiers. Cornelius Evazan was also a bounty job for Boba Fett, who had to fight zombies on the planet Necropolis to catch the scientist.
The "Galaxy of Fear" series was like if R.L. Stine wrote scary stories set in the Star Wars universe. The series of 12 books was released between 1997 and 1998, chronicling events between "A New Hope" and "Empire Strikes Back."
He was supposed to have his own movie and video game
Before Disney bought Lucasfilm and subsequently scrapped several Star Wars projects, Boba Fett was planned as the main character of the dark action game "Star Wars 1313," and was also the intended subject of a "Solo"-esque standalone film.
The video game was set among the darker sides of the galaxy, on Coruscant's Level 1313, with players assuming the role of an unnamed bounty hunter and then playing as Fett. When the game was introduced at E3 in 2012, creators said players would use "exotic" weapons to help Fett investigate a criminal conspiracy in the darkest, lowest levels of the planet-wide metropolis.
A more recent Fett-focused offering was the reported standalone film. Though the project was never formally announced, rumors swirled in 2013 and again in 2018 that Disney and Lucasfilm had been working on a Boba Fett movie with director James Mangold. But later that year, entertainment outlets confirmed the Fett movie was no more.
Around the same time, Disney and Lucasfilm began heavily promoting the space western series "The Mandalorian" on Disney+, so it can likely be assumed that plot points/characters in that Fett film either overlapped with the "Mandalorian" mythology or were perceived to potentially contradict it. At the end of the day, Fett's resurrection would come solely via "The Mandalorian," and will continue with "The Book of Boba Fett."