Dave Filoni explains the genius in George Lucas' design ideas for the character of Boba Fett. The Star Wars bounty hunter became one of the franchise's most recognizable characters despite getting surprisingly little screen time in the original trilogy, with the prequel films going on to expand on his backstory. A Disney+ series dedicated to the character, The Book of Boba Fett, will premiere on the streaming service on December 29.

Though he made his first on-screen appearance in the animated segment of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special, Boba Fett first reached mainstream audiences in The Empire Strikes Back, as one of six bounty hunters hired by Darth Vader to track down the crew of the Millennium Falcon. While he seemingly died in Return of the Jedi after being jettisoned into a sarlacc pit, he was revealed to have survived in The Mandalorian season 2, in which he plays a crucial role in helping the protagonist rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon. A post-credits scene showed him taking over Jabba the Hutt's old throne, teasing the premise of his spinoff series The Book of Boba Fett.

Related: Boba Fett's Trailer Avoids All The Worst Disney+ TV Show Expectations

In the newly released documentary short Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett, Filoni, who executive produces The Mandalorian, talks about the genius behind Lucas' concept for the character. Identifying him as inspired by Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy, Filoni describes Fett as modeled after a Western gunslinger, complete with the sound effect of spurs when he walks. While that might seem odd for a science-fiction film, he sees it as a key example of how Lucas envisioned Star Wars:

He wears the poncho, just like Clint Eastwood. He is an icon drawn out of George's appreciation for Westerns, and I think the gunfighters of Sergio Leone's films specifically. [...] Within the DNA of Star Wars is a deep appreciation for movies that George liked, that he was inspired by, of different genre. And so [cowboy] spurs make absolute sense when you think of it that way, as surely as Obi-Wan looks like a samurai. That makes perfect sense if you understand who the creator of Star Wars... is in George Lucas. It’s just part of the appreciation of the art form, really.

Boba Fett fighting Luke Skywalker on Jabba's sail barge in Star Wars Return of the Jedi

Boba Fett's Western-inspired design would indeed prove crucial for the Star Wars universe, as he provided the visual template for The Mandalorian's titular bounty hunter. The Disney+ series has not only fleshed out a mythology behind the character's armor, placing Lucas' original creation within the context of an entire civilization, but it has also leaned heavily into the genres that inspired the original films. Filoni and Jon Favreau's doubling-down on the Mandalorian's relationship to an Eastwood-esque gunslinger, as well as the Jedi's relationship with samurai, has been a crucial aspect of the show's success with fans.

While the entire documentary offers an exciting look at one of the sci-fi franchise's most unlikely successes, Filoni's comments capture something crucial about Boba Fett that is perhaps the reason for his enduring appeal. Even though he barely had lines in the original trilogy, Lucas' core Star Wars inspirations were baked into his design, making him visually compelling from his first moment on camera. While the character himself wasn't introduced in The Mandalorian until part way through season 2, he provided the roadmap for the show's expansion of the Star Wars universe in a way that many fans have found restorative after the blockbuster sequel trilogy.

Next: Why Book Of Boba Fett Is Actually The Mandalorian Season 2.5

Source: Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett