Warning! SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett episode 1
The Book of Boba Fett finally admits the bounty hunter isn't as cool as fans initially thought. The legend of Boba Fett was established well before his official debut in The Empire Strikes Back - when Kenner Toys began to distribute an action figure of a mysterious armored man. Described as a "fearsome interplanetary bounty hunter" and a threat to both Han Solo and the Rebel Alliance, Boba Fett appeared in the Star Wars Holiday Special, and audiences swiftly came to consider him the best of the best.
The core problem, though, is that George Lucas' own films don't really seem to treat Boba Fett like that big a deal at all. He's a force to be reckoned with in The Empire Strikes Back, but he's quickly taken out in Return of the Jedi, in a scene even Lucas himself apparently found underwhelming. Fans were disappointed, and the old Expanded Universe did its best to redeem Boba Fett's reputation by presenting him as an action hero whose sheer grit and determination meant he escaped the Sarlacc - and in the most spectacular way, rocketing out of its maw triumphantly. This was Boba Fett as fans had always imagined him to be: implacable and unbeatable.
The Book of Boba Fett, however, is going to great lengths to present the bounty hunter as a three-dimensional character in his own right - a flawed, fragile man who struggles, stumbles, and survives only by the skin of his teeth. It's most visible in the way Boba Fett escaped the Sarlacc. In canon, the creature was killed when Jabba's sail barge crashed upon it, giving Boba Fett an opportunity. He used his flamethrower to burn his way out of the Sarlacc, but the escape was far from spectacular - with Boba crawling up the sand pit before he collapsed into unconsciousness. He survived, but as much by luck as skill, and it was a close run thing.
Boba Fett had made his canon return in The Mandalorian season 2, which - in a blatant act of fanservice - had played up the idea he was an absolute force of nature. The Boba Fett of The Mandalorian was the character fans had always imagined, as lethal in melee combat as he was a deadshot with a gun, able to plough through an army of stormtroopers with ease. However, The Book of Boba Fett seems more true to the bounty hunter seen in George Lucas' movies, a formidable warrior who nevertheless gets by on luck, and whose good fortune sometimes runs out. This is a man who still needs Star Wars' bacta treatment years after the Sarlacc, simply because his body has gone through so much.
Naturally, this is leading to some criticism from fans who had bought into the mystique of Boba Fett, and who expected a hero who resembled his Legends equivalent - a powerhouse who rockets out of a Sarlacc's maw unscathed, a thoroughly awesome badass who can't be beaten and whose injuries never seem to so much as slow him down. However, The Book of Boba Fett made the fan-favorite character more interesting, elevating the overall stakes by highlighting Boba Fett's more flawed, human characteristics.
The Book of Boba Fett releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.