The Mandalorian Changes Everything We Know About Boba Fett

By James Moore / December 9, 2020

The latest offering from The Mandalorian, The Tragedy, may have been the shortest episode of the series to date, but it was no less action-packed or rewarding than any episode that preceded it.

At long last, fans rejoiced in seeing fan-favourite Boba Fett return to the Star Wars universe, after nearly forty years of his fate being left uncertain at the hands of the Sarlacc Pit in Return of the Jedi. His appearance was teased at the end of the season premiere, The Marshall, with actor Temuera Morrison returning for the episode’s closing moments.

However, the episode was noteworthy for many reasons. Not only did it give us the proper return of Boba Fett and finally answered the question over whether or not he survived the events of Return of the Jedi (although we still do not know how), it also answers another long-standing hot talking point among the Star Wars fandom: as to whether Boba Fett, and his father Jango Fett, were in fact Mandalorians.

While they both wore the recognisable armour, it was never clear what the Fett’s relationship was with the Mandalorian people, even within the inner circle at Lucasfilm and later Disney.

So how does this change what we know about the Fetts? To answer that, we need to go back and look at the origins of both Boba and Jango and how this new revelation changes everything.

4. Boba Fett - Mandalorian, Or Mercenary?

Boba Fett needs no introduction. Despite an understated role in the original trilogy, fans quickly flocked behind this striking, masked Bounty Hunter and quickly made a name for himself within the community.

While being first introduced in The Star Wars Holiday Special in 1978, his first canonical appearance was in The Empire Strikes Back before his premature demise at the hands of Han Solo and the Sarlacc Pit in Return of the Jedi.

But at the time, the legacy of Boba Fett and the Mandalorians was very much in its infancy. For the purposes of the story, Boba Fett was nothing more than a bounty hunter or mercenary in cool looking armour. The armour itself was in fact originally designed to be worn by a new Imperial 'super commando', but when they realised that they couldn’t afford to make many versions of the costume, they recycled it to be used by a single bounty hunter. And the rest, as they say is history.

The original concepts drawn up by Ralph McQuarrie for the Imperial super trooper did eventually come to fruition through the introduction of Imperial Supercommandos in the animated series Star Wars Rebels - Mandalorian warriors who served the Empire.

Due to the incredible fan response that Boba Fett received in his two canonical appearances, the legend of the Mandalorian began to grow and is the reason that George Lucas went on to reveal the origins of Boba Fett in the prequel trilogy, through his father, Jango Fett.