If the heroic Tatooine marshal Cobb Vanth were to return in a Star Wars TV series it would be better for him to appear in The Book of Boba Fett than the third season of The Mandalorian. Season 2 of The Mandalorian saw the complete return of the original trilogy’s iconic bounty hunter Boba Fett, who retrieved his armor from Din Djarin in exchange for helping him rescue Grogu from an Imperial remnant faction. Before Din Djarin took Boba Fett's armor, Cobb Vanth used it to great effect in his role as the marshal of Mos Pelgo. Vanth’s indirect connection to Boba through the armor, his interactions with the criminal underworld, and his residence of Tatooine make The Book of Boba Fett the ideal series for him to return in.
Although his live-action debut was in the first episode of The Mandalorian season 2 “Chapter 9: The Marshal,” Cobb Vanth’s first appearance was in the Aftermath novel trilogy. A former slave, Vanth was the sheriff of the small Tatooine town Mos Pelgo, which he defended from the Red Key Raiders following Jabba the Hutt’s death. After the Battle of Endor, Mos Pelgo was taken over by the Mining Collective, forcing Vanth to flee the town, where he acquired Boba Fett’s armor from jawas. After killing the Mining Collective assailants, Vanth gradually became adept at using its various features and onboard weaponry, making him an even more effective guardian of Mos Pelgo. Though by Mandalorian standards Vanth is not worthy of wearing Boba Fett's armor, he was an altruist who valiantly used the gear to protect the innocent.
The Mandalorian season 2 finale ends with Din Djarin reluctantly handing over Grogu to Luke Skywalker to be trained as a Jedi. Having earlier defeated Moff Gideon, Djarinn inadvertently became the new owner of the Mandalorian Darksaber, putting him at odds with Bo-Katan Kryze, who seeks to take over Mandalore once again. In the post-credits scene, Boba Fett and Fennec Shand return to Jabba’s Palace, now run by Bib Fortuna, and kill him along with his guards to take over the remains of Jabba’s criminal empire (setting up the premise of The Book of Boba Fett). With this in mind, if Cobb Vanth were to return, it would be far more fitting for him to appear in The Book of Boba Fett. The Mandalorian season 3 will likely focus on Din Djarin and Bo-Katan’s conflict over the Darksaber and Mandalore, while The Book of Boba Fett will deal with Fett’s Tatooine-based crime syndicate.
Bo-Katan and Moff Gideon will most likely be the antagonists of The Mandalorian season 3. With Bo-Katan vying to claim the Darksaber from Din, the season is sure to have a strong focus on both Mandalorian culture and the Imperial remnant factions in a post-Galactic Civil War galaxy. Cobb Vanth’s appearance in season 2 made it clear that despite his use of Mandalorian armor, Vanth is simply a highly skilled and honorable gun-slinger with no actual ties to Mandalorian culture. A local Tatooine marshal, unfortunately, wouldn’t fit into a conflict between Mandalorian and Imperial factions without it feeling forced.
The Book of Boba Fett could include Cobb Vanth in a variety of ways. While Mos Pelgo may not be close to Boba Fett’s headquarters in the late Jabba’s palace, the spread of Fett’s criminal empire throughout Tatooine (and eventually the Outer Rim) would inevitably get Vanth’s attention. Cobb Vanth could easily become an adversary of Boba and Fennec, given his status as a marshal and theirs as crime lords, but there’s also a way they could end up as allies. Boba Fett and Fennec Shand are shown to be honorable criminals in The Mandalorian season 2, and Vanth may see working alongside them as a necessary evil if they protect ordinary citizens from vicious gangs who’d otherwise prey on them.
