The Mandalorian should make Star Wars character Boba Fett one of the show's main villains in season 2. The Mandalorian follows Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), a mysterious bounty hunter whose conscience is piqued when he is tasked with apprehending The Child, a.k.a. Baby Yoda, whom he protects from various villains throughout the series' first season. After its premiere on Disney+'s launch, The Mandalorian has become an instant classic among Star Wars fans, and the influence of Boba Fett can be keenly felt on it.
Boba Fett is one of the most recognizable legacy characters of Star Wars. After his debut in The Empire Strikes Back as one of the bounty hunters Darth Vader enlists to find Han Solo, Boba Fett met an ignominious end in Return of the Jedi when a blinded Han clumsily ignited Boba Fett's jetpack and sent him to his demise in the Great Pit of Carkoon on Tatooine. Boba Fett also appears as a child in the prequel trilogy, the unaltered clone of Jango Fett who raised Boba Fett as his son, and as an adolescent, Boba Fett is in the last two episodes of The Clone Wars season 2. Through his few appearances in Star Wars canon, Boba Fett achieved cult classic status, and the next logical series for the character is the upcoming second season of The Mandalorian.
Boba Fett's inclusion in The Mandalorian makes sense because it would answer one of the biggest questions in Star Wars fandom and would fit with the show's plot and timeline. In fact, the first season of The Mandalorian may have already teased Boba Fett as one of season 2's most important villains.
Boba Fett's Fate Is Disney Star Wars' Biggest Unanswered Question
In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, now rebranded as Star Wars Legends, Boba Fett escaped the Sarlacc, using his jet pack to avoid the certain death, and he eventually adopts the name "Mandalore" and leads the Mandalorians, continuing his work as a bounty hunter. However, once Disney purchased Lucasfilm, they declared the Expanded Universe non-canon, and subsequently left the question of Boba Fett's survival unanswered until the canonical novel Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig was released. In Wendig's book, Cobb Vanth finds armor on Tatooine that is described very similarly to Boba Fett's. Vanth finding what could be Boba Fett's armor makes it possible that he did in fact escape the Sarlacc in Disney's Star Wars canon, maybe having to shed his armor in the process. Despite the circumstantial evidence of his survival in the novel, Boba Fett has yet to appear on screen since Return of the Jedi, so his appearance in The Mandalorian would settle the question once and for all.
It would also provide answers to more fan questions and thematically fit with the series. Though Boba Fett is technically tied to Mandalore, as he wears similar armor to the show's title character, he is not a real Mandalorian. Boba is a clone of Jango Fett, who stole the armor from a Mandalorian and used it for his bounty hunting purposes, and what fans saw of Jango, who frequently removed his helmet, doesn't fit with the Way as described in The Mandalorian season 1. A clash of cultures, Boba Fett as a pretender and Mando as a strict adherent to Mandalorian culture, would allow the series to flesh out Boba Fett's character and backstory, answering even more fan questions about the legacy character and further expanding on the Mandalorian mythos introduced in season 1.
The Mandalorian Season 1 May Have Teased Boba Fett
In the waning minutes of The Mandalorian episode 5, "The Gunslinger," an unknown character is seen approaching the unconscious Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). The audience can only make out the boots of the unknown character, and the boots make a clinking sound when he's walking, like they have spurs, which has been a staple sound of Boba Fett. This of course could just be the showrunners of The Mandalorian teasing fans, but the similarity in the sounds is too close not to speculate.
The timeline of The Mandalorian is also fits with a potential Boba Fett appearance. The series takes place roughly five years after Return of the Jedi, and if Boba Fett survived the Sarlacc, it would make sense for Boba Fett to be on Tatooine. After his surprising appearance in episode 7, darksaber-wielding Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) is already slated to be an antagonist in season two of The Mandalorian, and since he is pursuing The Child, it would also make sense for the former Imperial commander to enlist the services of another experienced bounty hunter like Boba Fett.
The Mandalorian vs. Boba Fett Would Be An Ultimate Star Wars Showdown
As a villain in The Mandalorian season 2, Boba Fett would be on a collision course with Mando, which would be the best kind of fan service. Both Mando and Boba Fett have experience fighting with Mandalorian armor, and as seen in The Mandalorian episode 3, "The Sin," watching Mandalorians in combat allows for some cool action beats and exciting fight choreography. Boba Fett doesn't see much action in the original trilogy, but he is a clone of Jango Fett, who fans got to see take on several Jedi in Attack of the Clones, and since Jango handled his own versus the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi before meeting his end at the hands of Mace Windu, it's safe to say that Boba Fett would be a worthy opponent for Mando.
For Boba Fett's detractors, who claim that he is just a cool suit of armor without character depth or even a stand-out action sequence in the original trilogy, The Mandalorian season 2 could work as a compelling counter-argument, and Boba Fett's die-hard fans would be elated at the series confirming his survival from the sarlacc pit and giving him a substantial role in the hottest Star Wars commodity right now.