As we have mentioned before, Making Star Wars has absolutely been dominating the reporting about The Mandalorian, and their casting reports were proven right with Lucasfilm’s official announcement last week.
Today, MSW’s Jason Ward had a very exciting report about the show: there will be some iconic bounty hunters returning!
According to them, the Droid Gotra will have a role to play in the live-action show, and that includes IG-88. Writes MSW:
IG-88 has recently been seen on set, filming his close ups, and being the star that he is on the set of The Mandalorian. The old time bounty hunter isn’t just standing around either, we’ve had credible reports about blasters being fired and he’s riding speeder bikes and attacking enemies.
Ward goes on to explain that this doesn’t appear to just be another IG droid, because this droid is referred to as IG-88 and has the same appearance. This is really exciting news, and it’s really cool. IG-88 was, of course, one of the bounty hunters who first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, hired by Darth Vader to find Han Solo and the Millennium Falcon. Boba Fett obviously won out on that one, but those bounty hunters who appeared on the Star Destroyer became fan favorites. IG-88 has since appeared in other canon material, including an animated Forces of Destiny short. We haven’t heard much about him post-ESB, however, so this will be exploring new territory for the iconic droid.
Additionally, it sounds like we might see another iconic bounty hunter in the show! MSW adds this:
It does appear that Bossk might be in the series as well but we can’t confirm the Trandoshan is actually Bossk himself, but it does appear to the case. So apparently IG-88 and Bossk are very likely to appear in Star Wars: The Mandalorian.
Bossk has had a larger presence in Star Wars since his first appearance in ESB, showing up in The Clone Wars and other media. It’s really cool to think about Bossk and IG-88 both showing up together in this show, however, and that will undoubtedly be amazing for Star Wars fans to actually see in live-action. And it doesn’t sound like they’d just have cameo appearances but would actually be significantly involved and in action roles. I’d absolutely love to see what they are up to post-Endor, and this show would be a great way of discovering that – while thrilling fans.
Of course, the bounty hunter that most people will ask about remains Boba Fett. In legends he survived the sarlacc, and there have been hints in the new canon that he did, though no confirmation. In a show called The Mandalorian, many have hoped that we’ll see Boba Fett show up (as even though he’s not really a Mandalorian, he’s the most well-known wearer of Mandalorian armor). And hearing about other bounty hunters from the original trilogy era – Bossk and IG-88 – showing up in this show does give some more reason for hope that Boba Fett may appear, but we’ll have to see. Regardless of whether or not that happens, however, I am super excited that we will see Bossk and IG-88 in live action again!
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