After the successful return of Star Wars with The Force Awakens, all eyes are on Rian Johnson's The Last Jedi to continue the saga in fitting fashion. All of the surviving core cast will return, setting up an intense continuation of the Resistance-First Order conflict and, more highly speculated, an exploration of the Force in the post-Empire era.

There's also new characters being added to the mix. Kelly Marie Tran is playing a new Resistance lead and Laura Dern will be a Rebel figure. The most mysterious addition is Benicio del Toro. He was linked to the film before Episode VII even hit, yet while we know he'll be playing a villain of some sorts, the specifics of his role have been a closely guarded secret.

YouTuber Mike Zeroh may have found the answer. In a new video, he points out that del Toro was listed on wikiwand.com as playing Vikrum Fett. This was later changed to saying his role was TBA, but it's already sparked the possibility that the Puerto Rican actor is playing the son of iconic original trilogy villain Boba Fett.

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Boba Fett really needs no introduction. A ruthless bounty hunter with such a reputation he had to warned down by Darth Vader, he's become an icon since his big screen debut in The Empire Strikes Back, living long after his on-screen death in Return of the Jedi both literally (he was resurrected in the Expanded Universe and tie-in novel Aftermath teased the same may be true of the new canon) and contextually (he's a staple of Star Wars merchandise and appeared in a youthful form in Attack of the Clones). There was even a standalone adventure planned until director Josh Trank left the project. Needless to say, he was one of the most high-profile original trilogy characters to not appear in The Force Awakens, so for his offspring to play a part in The Last Jedi would be rather fitting.

Benicio del Toro has been suitably cagey about his character, but did reveal he's "like a villain", which would suggest we're not just dealing with a new General Hux, something the Fett connection wound fit into. There's a question over whether it's a good idea for the new Star Wars to be so obsessed with the past after The Force Awakens hewed so close to A New Hope's story, especially as the standalone-to-middle-entry structure (it was possible the well-into-development spinoff could have arrived before Han Solo) is the same as how Fett was first introduced - prepping his Empire presence, Boba first appeared in the maligned Holiday Special.

It's worth establishing that this is a pretty out-there rumor and while Wikiwand may have listed del Toro it could be based on false information. For now who he's playing is still a mystery, but it would definitely be possible del Toro is more important to the galaxy's history than we realize.

Source: Mike Zeroh

Next: Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi: Every Update You Need To Know

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