For many years, both Boba Fett and his father remained mysteries in the Star Wars universe. Without a doubt, they were fan-favorite characters — starting with Boba Fett’s first movie appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, then to Jango Fett’s in Attack of the Clones. But the thing is, most people could not quite put their fingers on the origin of these two characters.
In the original trilogy, Boba Fett was presented as a bounty hunter with a cool mask and some awesome bounty-hunting tech to boot. But that was about all the movies gave us. (Of course, we’ll leave out the extended universe content, which wasn’t as widely popular as the movies). And then when Jango Fett came along in the prequels, we got the confirmation that Jango is not only the (clone) father to Boba Fett but was also the blueprint for an entire clone army created on Kamino.
That being said, as other source material pushed Mandalorians into the forefront of Star Wars pop culture, the movies did nothing to confirm why Jango and Boba Fett had Mandalorian armor — especially if they weren’t actually Mandalorians themselves. So, what gives?
Is Jango Fett a Mandalorian?
The answer to the question behind Jango Fett’s canon origin finally came in season 2 of The Mandalorian when it was revealed that Boba Fett was alive and well after his fall into the Sarlacc pit. In short, no, Jango Fett did not steal armor from the Mandalorians. But yes, in a way, he is a Mandalorian himself.
In the episode “Chapter 14: The Tragedy,” Boba Fett is on a quest to get his armor back from Din Djarin after Din himself acquired it from Marshal Cobb Vanth on Tatooine. (Cobb had come across it as a bargain from the Jawa after they likely dug it up from the Sarlacc pit.) At first, Din wasn’t convinced that the armor belonged to Boba Fett, but Boba revealed something special to Din (and the audience).
In his chain code, he confirmed that his father was a Mandalorian because he was adopted as a foundling (just like Din Djarin). His father fought in the Mandalorian Civil Wars, and Jango himself wore the iconic armor before it was passed down to Boba.
So, ultimately, both Boba Fett and Jango Fett are Mandalorians. And we’ll hopefully learn more about Boba Fett and his father when The Book of Boba Fett comes out in December 2021.