The Book of Boba Fett isn’t about a bounty hunter

The Book of Boba Fett is now just over a month away from a series premiere on Disney+, and it may be the most highly anticipated Star Wars series we’ve seen so far.

While The Mandalorian certainly led to a flood of anticipation, there was also lots of uncertainty about how the first major live-action Star Wars series would deliver when the dust settled. Of course, the good news is that The Mandalorian more than delivered both critically and through fan appreciation of the show.

Even upcoming projects like Ahsoka or classic ones like The Clone Wars, which went on to become a beloved animated series, didn’t carry the long-term weight of this one. Boba Fett has been burdened with the adoration of diehard Star Wars fans for decades, and we’re finally on the path to seeing whether Jon Favreau and company can deliver on that anticipation.

The Book of Boba Fett isn’t about a bounty hunter

One of the most memorable moments in the recently released trailer for The Book of Boba Fett were the words “I am not a bounty hunter” coming from our titular character. Another character, identified as an “Alien” by official closed captioning, responds with “I’ve heard otherwise.”

As have we all, to be sure, as Boba Fett has been known for decades as a prolific and deadly bounty hunter. That tradition goes all the way back to his father, Jango Fett, a bounty hunter who became the genetic foundation for The Clone Wars and for his cloned “son” Boba Fett.

Based on the trailer, it looks like The Book of Boba Fett will be spending a significant amount of time moving forward from events of The Mandalorian season 2, and we know it’s expected to happen concurrently with the events of Ahsoka. Even with limited information about the timelines of each series, it currently appears that The Book of Boba Fett will almost fit in as The Mandalorian season 2.5, with season 3 expected to take place following the events of this new series.

Based on the glimpses we see in the trailer, it appears we’re instead going to see Boba Fett taking on an almost Godfather-like position as he tries to create order within a chaotic criminal underworld. Not unlike a mobster, Boba Fett emphasizes respect and appears to at least want to follow a code of honor, though he likely won’t hesitate to break that if the need is great enough.

“Jabba ruled with fear. I intend to rule with respect.” These are the words of Boba Fett in this stunning trailer, before asking a very important question a bit later on. “Why speak of conflict when cooperation can make us all rich?”

Boba Fett may not be a bounty hunter anymore, but his acknowledgment of the supremacy of money shows that mercenary heart will always be in him. Fett has never seemed prone to greed when it comes to raking in money, but here he seems more intrigued by the power he’s working his way towards in seizing a throne once occupied by Jabba the Hutt.

Flashbacks could become central to The Book of Boba Fett

Despite the fact that The Book of Boba Fett will closely follow that titular character past his bounty hunter years into a new role, that doesn’t necessarily mean the entire series will be devoid of those bounty hunter adventures. This seems especially true when considering the little pieces of info we got from series star Temuera Morrison in his Rotten Tomatoes interview from June 2021.

“Well, we can’t say too much, but we’re going to see his past and where he’s been since The Empire Strikes Back,” Morrison said. “Somebody pointed out he’s been kind of stuck in this one place, and now’s the time to actually go back in time and check out his journey and find out more about him.”

Since the production of The Mandalorian, we’ve seen an uncanny ability from Jon Favreau and everyone involved in these shows to keep major details and surprises under wraps until the moment they actually premiere on Disney+ for the world to see. With the first season, that included the eventual reveal of Baby Yoda, aka The Child, aka Grogu.

With the second season, that meant keeping the inclusion of Luke Skywalker and Mark Hamill from fans for months until his monumental appearance occurred in the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian. Depending on how deep they go into that interim time period between The Empire Strikes Back and the events happening after The Mandalorian season 2, there’s ample opportunity for some huge characters of the past to reappear.

Just about any major or minor character from The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi, even tidbits about Darth Sidious on his path to The Rise of Skywalker, feel like fair game and have a non-zero chance of becoming part of The Book of Boba Fett. To that end, we may just see Boba Fett embody his past as the legendary bounty hunter in this series, but it will always serve to let us understand who he has become since those days.

Potential for The Book of Boba Fett season 2 could alter the focus of season 1

The Book of Boba Fett is set for a series premiere on Disney+ in just over one month as the series begins on Dec. 29, 2021, and it is expected to follow the one episode per week format that we’ve seen from all the other Star Wars series on Disney+.

While we don’t have official word, a report by Cinelinx Editor Jordan Maison indicated that there could be as many as nine episodes in the first season of The Book of Boba Fett. While that’s one more than the eight-episode standard used in both seasons of The Mandalorian, we don’t yet know if The Book of Boba Fett will serve as a one-off series or see itself continued through multiple seasons.

In all likelihood, that’s not something anyone outside of Jon Favreau and the other big names involved in this project will know until the season 1 finale of The Book of Boba Fett arrives, which would be on Feb. 23, 2022, based on a weekly Disney+ premiere and nine episodes beginning on Dec. 29, 2021.

If The Book of Boba Fett is setting things up to continue after this season, we’ll likely see them willing to spend more of this inaugural season on flashbacks and filling in the gaps of Boba Fett’s story from The Empire Strikes Back to the show’s present timeline.

However, if this is intended to be a one-season hurrah for the Boba Fett character, we’re more likely to only get some glimpses of his bounty hunter past and a season more laser-focused on his ambitions now that the bounty hunter days are behind him.