Disney+'s The Book of Boba Fett behind the scenes special reveals George Lucas pushed for Disney to cast Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett. Almost 40 years after the sarlacc swallowed Boba Fett in Return of the Jedi, the character came back in The Mandalorian season 2, which then led to a spinoff centered around the bounty hunter, The Book of Boba Fett. On both occasions it was Temuera Morrison in the role, bringing things full circle after playing Jango Fett in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones, and the casting has deeper ties to the prequel trilogy than suspected.
Morrison, who also voiced Boba Fett in the 2004 re-release of The Empire Strikes Back, and played both Fetts and various other clone characters in several Star Wars video games, has brought a lot of himself to Boba Fett. In particular, The Book of Boba Fett drew on Morrison's Maori heritage to influence the character, his fighting style and movements, showing that Morrison's return had even greater depth to it besides being an obvious choice that'd likely be popular, rather than risk what could've been a controversial recast.
The idea for bringing Morrison back to the realm of live-action Star Wars is rooted in its creator, George Lucas. The director is the one who first cast Morrison, after all, and clearly was left with a big impression. In Disney Gallery: The Book of Boba Fett, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy reveals that it was actually Lucas himself who pushed for Morrison to return if a Boba Fett project were to ever come to fruition. Kennedy said:
"When George first spoke to me about Boba Fett, he immediately said, 'I cast this amazing actor from New Zealand called Temuera Morrison to play Jango Fett.' He said if you ever do Boba Fett, you should cast Temuera to play Boba because he's such a remarkable actor."
It makes sense that Lucas would push for Morrison's Boba Fett casting, given he not only chose the actor as Jango, but then brought him in for The Empire Strikes Back as well. Even amidst the badly received prequels, Morrison not only stood out as Jango, but with it helped to define the look of not only Fett but the entire clone army. Given Boba Fett is Jango's clone son, then it makes far more sense for Morrison to play him than a new actor, especially with him still more than able to do so.
A Boba Fett movie was rumored for a lot of years before it was eventually retooled into a TV show. It's unclear whether, had that happened, Morrison still would've been cast, but it at least seems likely that Lucas would've backed it and, again, there'd be a strong basis for it. Even with The Book of Boba Fett's story problems, Morrison wasn't the issue, and there's a good chance he'll return again as Boba Fett sometime in Star Wars' future.
