James Mangold to helm Star Wars spinoff featuring Boba Fett

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

When it was announced that Disney would be developing an entirely new STAR WARS trilogy, the studio also revealed that they would be expanding the franchise further with a series of spin-off movies. So far we've had ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY and SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY, but right from the beginning it was always rumoured that one of those spin-off's would revolve around Boba Fett.

Those of you who are aching to see the feared bounty hunter back on the big-screen will be thrilled to know that THR has reported that James Mangold (LOGAN) has signed on the write and direct a STAR WARS spin-off centered around Boba Fett. Not much is known about the project at this early date, but here's hoping that the film will actually give the character some much-needed personality. Fett may be a fan-favourite character, but when you strip away his expanded universe stories, he's simply a dude in a cool costume who gets unceremoniously gobbled up by a giant monster. Although I'm still waiting for the day when Lucasfilm uses these spin-offs to tackle new characters, Boba Fett's lack of on-screen history actually works to his advantage. Unlike Han Solo, who we've been privileged to get to know over the course of multiple movies, a Boba Fett spin-off could go off in some surprising directions. The character is pretty much a blank slate, just waiting for the right person to fill in the gaps. Do us proud, James Mangold.

As I said before, the Boba Fett spin-off has been on Lucasfilm's mind for quite some time, and although it was never officially confirmed, it was said that the STAR WARS spin-off which Josh Trank (FANTASTIC FOUR) was working on before he was canned several years ago was a Boba Fett film. Simon Kinberg (X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX) was also rumoured to be working on a Boba Fett movie, and although THR doesn't know whether the two projects are the same, they do note that the pair have worked together in the past.

It will be interesting to see which time-frame is chosen for the Boba Fett movie. There's quite the gap between our introduction to the young Boba Fett in ATTACK OF THE CLONES and his arrival onboard Darth Vader's Star Destroyer in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, so there's certainly plenty of room for multiple stories there. However, you could also see Lucasfilm choosing to reveal that Fett survived his encounter with the Sarlacc in RETURN OF THE JEDI, which would open up another sizeable chunk of the STAR WARS timeline to explore. Which would you prefer to see?