An Iconic 'Star Wars' Character Will Officially Be In 'The Mandalorian' Season 2

Back when Disney first purchased Lucasfilm, the company seemed to imagine something along the lines of a Marvel Cinematic Universe set up for the Galaxy Far, Far Away. There would be Episodes 7-9, but there would also be standalone films set in the in-between spaces in the trilogy. Those included Rogue One, a young Han Solo film, and a Boba Fett movie. Only the first two got made; the Boba Fett movie was officially shelved. But for fans of the long time antagonist, there's news Boba Fett will be in The Mandalorian Season 2. There's just one small problem. The character is supposed to be dead.

Lucasfilm confirmed in October of 2018 the planned Boba Fett movie was scrapped. At the time, the company paired it with the announcement it would focus on the Star Wars series The Mandalorian, which would be part of the recently announced Disney+ service. Showrunner Jon Favreau did not say the series would be about Boba Fett. (His exact quote was "After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe.") But that didn't stop fans from transferring their hope of a Boba Fett film to a Boba Fett TV series.

As details of The Mandalorian emerged, it was apparent the show was not going in that direction. For one thing, The Mandalorian is set in 9 ABY, five years after the original trilogy. Since Boba Fett died in Return of The Jedi, when Han knocked him into a Sarlacc pit from Jabba's barge, he clearly couldn't be in it.

But then, in The Mandalorian series premiere, eagle-eyed viewers caught a glimpse of what looked like Boba Fett's signature armor on a background character. Moreover, fans were sure a mysterious figure with jangling spurs at the end of Episode 5 was Fett. And now, The Hollywood Reporter says actor Temuera Morrison, who played Boba Fett's father Jango Fett in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, has been cast as the iconic mercenary.

Sources say Morrison will play Boba Fett, the famed bounty hunter who first appeared on the big screen in 1980's Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and who seemingly died in 1983's Return of the Jedi as he fell into a Sarlacc pit. Actor Jeremy Bulloch portrayed the character in the original trilogy.

But how can this be? For those who haven't seen The Clone Wars, Jango Fett isn't Boba's father. Boba is one of a dozen clones made from Jango Fett's DNA. In the series, Jango reveals an entire secret army of them; Boba was just the one he chose to raise as his own.

That gives the show several options for solving this puzzle. The most obvious is that the series is undoing Fett's death in Return of the Jedi. But Morrison might not be the original Boba Fett and instead is one of the copies. Either way, fans will be hanging on every scene to catch their longtime favorite when he shows up.

The Mandalorian Season 2 is expected to premiere on Disney+ in October of 2020.