Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett episode 4.
The Book of Boba Fett episode 4 offered fresh information on what a sarlacc looks like under the sand on Tatooine. The Disney+ series' fourth episode continued Boba Fett's (Temuera Morrison) backstory, connecting it to the moment he rescues Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) and gets his long-lost ship back. As the flashbacks close in on the present timeline, Boba's motivation in replacing Jabba the Hutt is clarified, as are his actions following the loss of his Tusken Raider tribe. However, it is his second encounter with the sarlacc that is proving to be one of the most intriguing aspects of the episode.
After Boba reclaims his Starship (formerly known as Slave-I) from the Gamorreans, Fennec - who has decided against parting ways with Boba - asks him where he's headed. Boba "has a few scores to settle," and he proceeds to eliminate the speeder bike gang who killed his sand people. Then, he flies the Starship to the Great Pit of Carkoon, in hope of finding his old bounty hunter armor (an armor that, while reminding Boba of a past he wants to renounce, saved his life in the sarlacc pit). Of course, Boba Fett's armor had left the sarlacc by then, entering the jawas', then Cobb Vanth's possession. But as he doesn't know this, Boba has yet another near-death experience with the sarlacc. Thanks to Boba's ship, viewers got to see brand new details of the sarlacc in episode 4.
As the starship reaches the sarlacc pit's edge, Boba turns on its flashlight and manages to take a quick look at the sarlacc's insides before it sends out its tentacles and attacks the ship. For the first time in the Star Wars saga, the Sarlacc is seen as the very long creature fitting its original description: running 100 meters below the surface. The textured surface of the sarlacc's throat looks like a digestive tract, which means it's probably covered in the immobilizing neurotoxins the sarlacc uses to keep its victims trapped inside it. As Boba looks inside the sarlacc for his armor, the sarlacc's infamous beaked tongue appears, and the monster sends its long appendages to grab Boba's ship and drag it into its many stomachs. It's unclear just how many appendages stem from the sarlacc's body, but at least five (the same number seen in Return of the Jedi) are seen reaching for Boba from the surface of the sarlacc's terrifying mouth-within-a-mouth.
The sarlacc is also shown as incredibly powerful, its tentacles holding on to Boba's ship harder than the ship itself is able to push and take off. When shooting the sarlacc proves futile, Fennec decides to go for the ship's famous seismic charge, dropping a mine right into the sarlacc's beak and rescuing Boba from his second near-death experience with Jabba's (former) sand monster. Fennec and Boba's shared near-death experiences are exactly what makes them such good allies, and this sarlacc moment is bound to bring them even closer together. The seismic charge blasted the sarlacc's appendages to the surface, and it is safe to say the sarlacc is dead, as the mine exploded into its mouth.
The Book of Boba Fett only added further details to the original sarlacc design from Star Wars: Episode VI. Its wide mouth, inward teeth, beaked tongue, and numerous tentacles stay visually loyal to their original versions. But episode 4 added depth and texture to the creature, confirming the Sarlacc as one of the largest (and most feared) monsters in the Star Wars universe.
Episodes of The Book of Boba Fett stream Wednesdays on Disney+
