Last night, the Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit had some exciting news: a Boba Fett movie appears to be coming!
According to the report, James Mangold will write and direct a Boba Fett standalone film. It sounds like Simon Kinberg – who has long been rumored to be in talks to do a Boba Fett movie – will co-write the script with Mangold and produce the film.
Mangold is perhaps most well-known for his work on the Wolverine films, directing The Wolverine in 2013 and the critically-acclaimed Logan in 2017. Logan is considered by some to be among the best superhero movies ever made, and it was the first superhero film to be nominated for an Oscar in best adapted screenplay. Mangold and Kinberg worked together on the film, with the latter serving as co-producer.
This is a film that has been long rumored to be coming, so it’s no surprise whatsoever to see it finally greenlighted. Though there’s no official announcement from Lucasfilm yet, the fact that HR is reporting this and that the director and writer is already on board means that it’s surely happening.
It will be very interesting to see what stories the film will tell about the fan favorite bounty hunter. There is also the question of when this will be set in the timeline. The most logical option is for it to be set sometime in-between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, but given EU tradition and subtle canon hints it’s possible that it could be set following Return of the Jedi. I think it most likely for this film to fall during the reign of the Empire, thus allowing us to see some of Fett’s rise to the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy. Attack of the Clones introduced us to Boba Fett as a child learning from his father, and then in The Clone Wars we saw young Boba trying to find his way as a bounty hunter himself. He had Slave I but didn’t wear his Mandalorian armor in the show, so there’s plenty of room for stories to be told about his early days as a bounty hunter. It would also be cool to see some other bounty hunters come into play, perhaps teaming up for a mission, which could include the likes of Bossk, IG-88, Dengar, and others.
Or there’s another interesting option as well. Given the fact that Solo leaves the door open for possible sequels (given the way the film ends plus the fact that some of the actors are signed on for multiple films), an interesting idea would be to use the Boba Fett movie as a sort of sequel to Solo. In other words, the Boba Fett film could show the bounty hunter’s rise and show why and how he became this feared bounty hunter, while also introducing us to the rivalry he has with Han Solo (if Lucasfilm wants to play up that rivalry aspect). Basically, my point is that there are plenty of options to explore with Boba Fett that would be really cool. There’s the danger of fleshing out his character so much that he becomes less interesting (since part of the intrigue is the mystery), but I don’t think that should stop them from forging ahead with the project.
One additional note from the Hollywood Reporter’s story is this: “Lucasfilm is developing movies on a slew of characters including Obi-Wan Kenobi, which has Stephen Daldry in negotiations to direct, although no writers are working on a script.” That should come as no surprise given the rumors, but it sounds like the Obi-Wan Kenobi film is still in the works as well.
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