The Book of Boba Fett squandered a Cad Bane opportunity

Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett. 

Bringing Cad Bane into The Book of Boba Fett was an excellent choice, not just because he is a fan-favorite Clone Wars character, but because he is a perfect villain for Boba Fett’s story of redemption and reinvention.

Cad Bane has a lot of history with Boba, and more importantly, he is everything Boba used to be–a ruthless bounty hunter who doesn’t care about anyone except himself. Boba defeating Cad Bane and the way that he defeats him in the finale shows Boba’s character growth and ability to confront his dark past.

Everything with Boba and Cad Bane was handled perfectly, but the series did miss an opportunity where Cad Bane and Fennec Shand are concerned.

The Bad Batch episode “Bounty Lost” pitted Fennec and Cad Bane against each other. Cad Bane was hired to deliver Omega to Lama Su while Nala Se hired Fennec to keep Omega out of Lama Su’s hands.

Fennec not only won the fight against Cad Bane in this episode, but she humiliated Cad Bane by making him lose his bounty (Omega), lose the credits owed to him, and she sabotaged his ship. The Bad Batch established a rivalry between Fennec and Cad Bane and gave him ample reason to have a score to settle with her.

Despite all of this, Fennec and Cad Bane do not fight each other in The Book of Boba Fett and there is not even a single line acknowledging their history or familiarity with each other. When Boba and Cad Bane first confront each other in the episode, Fennec is there, urging Boba to keep a cool head, be strategic, and not let Cad Bane’s manipulations get the best of him. When Boba and Cad Bane fight later on, Fennec is on her way to kill the Pyke Syndicate leadership and their key collaborators in Mos Eisley.

As epic as a Fennec vs. Cad Bane rematch would’ve been, the series is ultimately about Boba Fett and his arc, so it makes sense to prioritize his conflict and showdown with Cad Bane over hers. Nevertheless, there still could’ve been some acknowledgment that Fennec and Cad Bane know each other and have a tense history, even if it was just a brief line or two that didn’t get into the specifics of their backstory.

Relive Cad Bane vs. Fennec Shand in The Bad Batch and Boba Fett vs. Cad Bane in The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+.