The Book of Boba Fett
Year: 2022
Created by: Jon Favreau
Starring: Temuera Morrison, Pedro Pascal & Ming-Na Wen
Episodes: 7
BBFC: 12
Published: 10/02/22
Created by: Jon Favreau
Starring: Temuera Morrison, Pedro Pascal & Ming-Na Wen
Episodes: 7
BBFC: 12
Published: 10/02/22
After a disappointing trilogy of mainline films, two films that were either great successes or horrendous failures depending on who you ask, and finally ending The Clone Wars, Disney finally hit their stride with Star Wars via Disney+ and The Mandalorian. It seemed as though when put in the hands of people who have the slightest bit of love for the franchise that Star Wars could actually be good again (who’d have thought?). But was The Mandalorian just a fluke? Could Star Wars shows maintain the high-quality benchmark set by that show? The first to face that judgment would be The Book of Boba Fett, which is mostly handled by the team behind The Mandalorian…so I’m sure you can guess how it fared.
After surviving being thrown into the Sarlacc Pit by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), bounty hunter Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) is marooned in the deserts of Tatooine. Taken in by a band of Tusken Raiders, Fett proves himself a valuable asset to the group and is taken in as one of their own.
Following his assassination of crime lord Bib Fortuna, Fett inherits the territories that were once ruled by Jabba the Hutt, but it doesn’t take long for trouble to come knocking and Fett must quickly make allies if he is to maintain his seat of power.
After surviving being thrown into the Sarlacc Pit by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), bounty hunter Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) is marooned in the deserts of Tatooine. Taken in by a band of Tusken Raiders, Fett proves himself a valuable asset to the group and is taken in as one of their own.
Following his assassination of crime lord Bib Fortuna, Fett inherits the territories that were once ruled by Jabba the Hutt, but it doesn’t take long for trouble to come knocking and Fett must quickly make allies if he is to maintain his seat of power.
I never understand when films and TV shows title themselves ‘The Book of…’ because a visual medium like film and TV is quite literally the opposite of reading a book, and often, as is the case with Boba Fett, the story contains no affiliations with any kind of book. But regardless, The Book of Boba Fett does succeed in continuing The Mandalorian’s high quality. However, it does come at the cost of Boba Fett never managing to quite leave the shadow of Mandalorian and falling squarely in spin-off territory, with two whole episodes out of just seven total dedicated to putting affairs in place for The Mandalorian Season Three and having almost nothing to do with the plot at the centre of Boba Fett.
Temuera Morrison reprises his role that has defined his career so far and delivers a career best performance as that character. The series allows for a much deeper dive into the mind of Boba Fett, one of Star Wars’ most mysterious characters, with great ties to the Prequel trilogy, and the Clone Wars series which detailed Boba’s younger years.
Ming-Na Wen plays Fennec Shand, Fett’s right-hand woman and the duo together are such a huge presence in any scene that they steal the show right off the bat. The humorous dynamic the two share is quite the opposite to the cold front they put up against their foes and it makes a nice change of pace from the typical broody gruffness of bounty hunter archetypes.
The supporting cast are also an interesting set of characters, particularly a gang of cyborgs led by Drash (Sophie Thatcher). However, beyond Din Darjin (Pedro Pascal, who gets two entire episodes dedicated just to him) few of the characters get enough screen time to be developed much.
Temuera Morrison reprises his role that has defined his career so far and delivers a career best performance as that character. The series allows for a much deeper dive into the mind of Boba Fett, one of Star Wars’ most mysterious characters, with great ties to the Prequel trilogy, and the Clone Wars series which detailed Boba’s younger years.
Ming-Na Wen plays Fennec Shand, Fett’s right-hand woman and the duo together are such a huge presence in any scene that they steal the show right off the bat. The humorous dynamic the two share is quite the opposite to the cold front they put up against their foes and it makes a nice change of pace from the typical broody gruffness of bounty hunter archetypes.
The supporting cast are also an interesting set of characters, particularly a gang of cyborgs led by Drash (Sophie Thatcher). However, beyond Din Darjin (Pedro Pascal, who gets two entire episodes dedicated just to him) few of the characters get enough screen time to be developed much.
Aesthetically The Book of Boba Fett looks almost identical to Mandalorian which is no bad thing. Very reminiscent of the original Star Wars trilogy, and the show confines itself almost entirely to Tatooine so get used to seeing sand, and lots of it. The show also sounds very similar, using a lot of the same music and sound effects. In fact, if you weren't explicitly told that this is not The Mandalorian, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking you were watching that show.
On the whole The Book of Boba Fett is a welcome addition to the new line of Star Wars live action series, however it does struggle to create its own identity because of how heavily it leans into The Mandalorian, ultimately feeling like something that only exists to set up the events of Season Three of that show. If you’re a fan of The Mandalorian then you’ll like Boba Fett, it’s as simple as that really. The show doesn’t do anything different to try and win you over, and whilst that is a shame, it’s certainly not a bad show, in fact I had a great time with it.
On the whole The Book of Boba Fett is a welcome addition to the new line of Star Wars live action series, however it does struggle to create its own identity because of how heavily it leans into The Mandalorian, ultimately feeling like something that only exists to set up the events of Season Three of that show. If you’re a fan of The Mandalorian then you’ll like Boba Fett, it’s as simple as that really. The show doesn’t do anything different to try and win you over, and whilst that is a shame, it’s certainly not a bad show, in fact I had a great time with it.