With less than a month to go before the premiere ofThe Book of Boba Fett,Star Warsfans across the globe are itching to know how the return of the infamous bounty hunter will change the galaxy far, far away. Making his first major appearance since he was unceremoniously chucked into a Sarlacc pit inReturn of the Jedi, Fett’s return to the screen is unprecedented — and director and executive producerRobert Rodriguezknows it.
In a new interview withThe Hollywood Reporter, Rodriguez revealed that the announcement ofBook of Boba Fett— a teaser tacked on to the end ofThe Mandalorian’s season two finale — had been kept a secret from most everyone, including certain higher-ups at Disney. The reveal was a bomb dropped on the heads ofStar Warsfanatics everywhere, ignited byTemuera Morrison’s return to Star Wars as the iconic Mandalorian, and while he worked only a director on its sister series, Rodriguez now gets to take the reins with the galaxy’s deadliest bounty hunter when the new series premieres on December 29.
Rodriguez directed nearly half of the series himself, according to THR, helming three of the series’ seven episodes and providing voice work for two of its characters. A move into working on a major corporate franchise isn’t normally the director’s bag unless he has full control over it (see: hisSpy Kidsfilms), but the mystery of Boba Fett’s origins enticed him into working with fellow executive producersJon FavreauandDave Filoni:
“I usually avoid premier properties — you’ll never be able to please everybody, it’s a losing game…I’d rather go do something I’ve created so nobody can say, ‘Hey, that’s wrong because …’ I created it, so it can be anything I want it to be. I love that freedom. That changed with Boba because he was a character that was always underserved. It was a character way more popular than he should have been, based on [his limited screen time]. So it’s almost like starting with an original character. you’re able to kind of do anything you want, so long as you make him cool and don’t make him a buffoon.”
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Despite being a fan-favorite character since his introduction inThe Empire Strikes Backin 1980, Rodriguez has no plans to make the upcoming series an easy ride for Boba Fett, pushing the character to his limits after he “[bit] off more than he can chew” with taking over the criminal underworld of Tatooine. “What’s it like for a bounty hunter to have to suddenly become a leader?”, he asks of the project, with plans to explore the character’s struggle with legacy and a future post-Sarlacc pit: “We really go in depth into the character.”
But that doesn’t mean Rodriguez has no faith in his actors, two leads outside the normal demographic for action heroes. Morrison andMing-Na Wen(as Fett’s loyal companion, Fennec Shand) may be well over the usual hero age at sixty and fifty-eight, but they’re pulling none of their punches, creating a new dynamic that will change the face ofStar Warsforever:
“Tem and I work out together — he really is Boba Fett. And for Wen, I would design whole sequences just to end on her and the look she would give Boba because she’s so badass. Tem knows this is his moment and she knows this is her moment, and when you get actors like that, they go for it and it’s palpable.”
The Book of Boba Fettpremieres exclusively on Disney+ on December 29.
