Ever since his first appearance in the late 70’s, via The Holiday Special, as an action figure and then in The Empire Strikes Back, there’s been an intense fascination surrounding the mysterious bounty hunter Boba Fett and his history. Comics, books, further films and animated series including Star Wars The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels and Sabine Wren have shed light on Fett and the Mandalorian culture he follows, and now as we sit at the brink of another chapter in the Mandalorian story, the Disney Plus series The Mandalorian, Pedro Pascal – the actor behind the as-yet nameless lead character of the series – discusses the differences between his character and the iconic Boba Fett.
“Ultimately he wants to do the right thing, but his duties could very much be in conflict with his destiny and doing the right thing has many faces. It can be a very windy road.”
And showrunner Jon Favreau had his own take on the differences.
“Our guy is a Mandalorian, and we definitely explore the culture of the Mandalorian. Our guy is operating in a much more unforgiving landscape, a place where survival is difficult enough, let alone flourishing in that atmosphere and the politics have dissolved. It’s ‘might is right.’ And how does somebody earn a living when there’s no structure to society anymore and everything is collapsing in on itself? How do you work your way through the world?”
Dave Filoni looked back to Fett’s own past.
“Boba Fett is a clone, according to Attack of the Clones, and by asking [creator George Lucas], he would say Boba Fett is not Mandalorian, not born on Mandalore. He’s more of a person indoctrinated into it, into the way of life, and gets a hold of the armor.”
So there’s the long and the short of it. For the longest time, history told that Boba Fett was trained by his father Jango – who was adopted by Mandalorians – who after his death inherited his armour, his ship and his reputation. The new canon has Jango as a fake – a pretend Mandalorian – which somewhat defangs the legend of the two Fetts, and by turn the Clone army which we long believed to be clones of an iconic Mandalorian warrior. Ironic, the two characters currently most associated with the Mandalorian culture aren’t Mando’s at all – The Mandalorian series looks set to change that.
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- Star Wars: The Mandalorian
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