Boba Fett Spinoff TV Series - What We Know So Far
While the protagonist of The Mandalorian may currently be the most hotly discussed bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe, he's far from the first. That distinction belongs to Boba Fett. The stoic bounty hunter appeared in the original trilogy, where he was hired by Darth Vader to hunt down Luke Skywalker and the rest of the Millennium Falcon crew.
The character has gone on to become one of the more popular in the franchise, and when The Mandalorian was announced, the question on the lips of nearly every fan was, "How is Boba Fett going to factor in?" After lots of speculation and Easter egg hunting, fans finally got the moment they were waiting for when the character appeared briefly at the end of the season 2 premiere.
We'll have to finish the season to find out exactly how Fett plays into the narrative of The Mandalorian. However, his continued storyline may be getting even juicier. According to a report by Nellie Andreeva at Deadline, word on the streets of Tatooine is that a Boba Fett spinoff is in heading into production — and it may be coming way sooner than we think.
Here's what we know so far about this rumored upcoming Disney+ series.
The possible release date window for the Boba Fett series
As of now, the Boba Fett spinoff only exists in the realm of speculation, which means there's no confirmed release date for the project. However, we do have enough information to make an educated guess on when we might expect to see the series, if it does end up happening.
First, we have a specific rumor reported by Andreeva in her Deadline piece about the possible series. She noted that her sources claim that the Boba Fett spinoff could start filming before season 3 of The Mandalorian does. In fact, it could start filming as early as the second week of November 2020.
Filming for the first season of The Mandalorian kicked off in November 2018, according to reports by Making Star Wars. Around one year later, the first season dropped on Disney+. Season 2 followed a similar trajectory, with filming famously wrapping up just in time to avoid major COVID-related delays and premiere at the end of October 2020.
Presuming this rumored Boba Fett spinoff follows a similar production schedule as its parent show, it seems likely that we could get the first season sometime in the fall or winter of 2021. It's also important to note that, per the Deadline report, this timeline would push filming for The Mandalorian season 3 back, but it's not clear how it would affect that series' release date.
What would be the plot of a Boba Fett spinoff?
The glimpse fans got of Boba Fett at the end of The Mandalorian season 2 premiere was definitely a thrill, but it really teed up more questions than it answered. Exactly how the feared bounty hunter will factor into the world of The Mandalorian, or what the narrative of his standalone series could look like, is still a big question mark.
One thing we do know is that Disney and Lucasfilm have had an appetite to find a way to do a standalone live-action Boba Fett property for a while now. Around the time that Rogue One and Solo were being made as part of the Star Wars Story label, rumors were swirling that the third movie in that series of standalone adventures set within the Star Wars galaxy would be a Fett-centric film. But when Solo didn't meet expectations at the box office, plans for Boba Fett: A Star Wars Story were vaporized.
We don't know what the plot of that film would have been, but it is possible that elements of whatever concept they had planned could be used in the alleged upcoming Disney+ series. First and foremost: we hope they circle back to how he survived his plunge into the Sarlacc pit.
While we may not know too much about what kind of narrative the series will have, there is one more little piece of information to discuss.
Who might be in the cast of a Boba Fett series?
The fact that the Boba Fett spinoff might start shooting literally a week after the rumor first appeared, even while it hasn't been officially confirmed yet, means that the powers that be are keeping their cards very close to their chest when it comes to this project. Fittingly, other than the rumored start of filming, we really don't know anything about what this potential miniseries could have in store for fans. But Deadline did have one other kernel of information for us in their report on the speculation around the spinoff.
According to Andreeva, actress Sophie Thatcher, best known for her roles on Chicago Med and When the Street Lights Go On, is circling a role in The Mandalorian universe. There's no word yet on what exactly that role could be, and it's not clear if it would be a part on season 3 of the parent series or the first season of the possible Boba Fett spinoff. More interesting is the prospect that her character might appear on both series, creating a bridge between the two properties.
We'll still have to wait until official word comes out to know more about this potential upcoming series, but if the rumors do hold to be true, Star Wars fans should be eating well in 2021.