As Lucasfilm look to kickstart its sputtering Star Wars franchise news of a Boba Fett Star Wars Story movie have emerged. And if the rumour from The Hollywood Reporter is correct, the film will be written and directed by James Mangold of Logan fame.
While it’s not all that surprising that Lucasfilm would focus its standalone films upon popular characters from the highly nostalgic original trilogy such as Obi-wan Kenobi and Boba Fett, one still wonders when some completely new characters and stories will be developed by the much fabled Star wars story team? For now, it seems like never.
It had been rumoured some time ago that Boba Fett would be the focus of the live action TV series coming to the Disney streaming service in late 2019 so one could also question whether some of the proposed Star Wars Story movies will be network exclusives in the future similar to distribution model used by Netflix.
Boba Fett was originally introduced to the Star Wars universe during the 1978 Star Wars Christmas Special before appearing in the Empire Strikes Back (1980) and then again in Return of the Jedi (1983). The Mandalorian badass quickly became a fan favourite due to his amazingly cool outfit and menacing demeanor (before he became a New Zealander in the modern updates anyway – no offense to our Kiwi friends but its true).
Further to this, fans of Star Wars already know the origins of the character through the prequels trilogy and Clone Wars animated series, however, the detailed of his deeds between the Clone Wars era and the Empire Strikes Back remain largely unexplored on the big and small screens. So the concept could succeed.
Hollywood Reporter has rumoured that Mangold, who gained acclaim for the X-men spinoff Logan in 2017 will co-write the script with Simon Kinberg (also from Logan), and direct the film.
Mangold’s other credits include the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line and the Western 3:10 to Yuma.
Just the notion of a Star Wars western including bounty hunters such as Aurra Sing, Cad Bane, Han Solo and Chewbacca is enough to excite many a Star Wars fan.