Is Jabba the Hutt in The Book of Boba Fett?

The Book of Boba Fett is upon us, and the series’ first trailer revealed that we’ll be seeing a lot of Boba Fett’s transition to power in place of Jabba the Hutt and Bib Fortuna on Tatooine.

Will Jabba the Hutt appear in The Book of Boba Fett?

Logistically, it wouldn’t make much sense for the character to appear in the new show. In terms of the Star Wars timeline, The Book of Boba Fett takes place after Return of the Jedi. Jabba was killed toward the beginning of the film (thanks to Princess Leia) and therefore isn’t alive at the time the series is set to begin.

This is why, in the original teaser for The Book of Boba Fett that appeared during the end credits of The Mandalorian season 2 finale, Bib Fortuna was the one sitting on the throne before Boba and Fennec Shand took it over and… eliminated their competition.

Could Jabba the Hutt still appear in The Book of Boba Fett?

We do know that Boba worked on behalf of Jabba on some big assignments for a while — the War of the Bounty Hunters comics chronicled his unexpectedly long and chaotic journey from retrieving Han Solo on Cloud City to finally delivering him to the crime boss on Tatooine. If it’s essential to show, flashbacks of interactions between Jabba and Boba in the show for that reason, the character could appear, if even just in the form of a hologram.

Seeing the Hutt alive and well again in the present, however, might be a stretch — viewers have been witnessing his death on-screen during every Return of the Jedi replay for decades now. He’s probably not one of those “never really gone” cases.

It’s unlikely that Jabba will appear in the series, as it’s expected to take place after his death. But he has already been mentioned by name in the first series trailer, and flashbacks to previous interactions between the Hutt and bounty hunter are always possible.

The Book of Boba Fett arrives on Disney+ December 29, 2021.