Darth Vader and Boba Fett are two of the most iconic characters ever, but Disney has now made the same mistake twice with these Star Wars foes. As villains go, Darth Vader is up there with the best of them. However, there was a time when Disney and Lucasfilm took steps to make Darth Vader an antihero rather than a villain, in the comics. More recently, the studio did the same thing with the nefarious bounty hunter Boba Fett, but this time in live-action.
With the Disney+ series The Book of Boba Fett, Lucasfilm took steps to make the title character less villainous. There were a lot of things that went into the characterization of Boba Fett in the show, some of which was more personal to star Temuera Morrison. The character’s relationship with the Tuskens and his backstory were directly influenced by Maori culture. The added depth was great for a character who previously only had a handful of lines in the original Star Wars trilogy, but the rest of the show didn’t lean into what made the character of Boba Fett so iconic in the first place.
Boba Fett’s Character Didn’t Work In BOBF
Lucasfilm making Boba Fett more of a peacekeeper was an odd move when the character’s eponymous Disney+ show was perfectly positioned to be a type of crime thriller. The choice was even more strange given the perfect reintroduction of the character in The Mandalorian. There, he was shown to be as cool as fans had thought he was for decades while still keeping true to the character.
The end of the season that set up The Book of Boba Fett wasn’t followed through, however. Instead of Boba Fett and Fennec Shand ruling over Tatooine how they see fit, it was a show about the iconic Star Wars bounty hunter trying to keep the peace without violence, which never felt right for the character. There needed to be more of a hard, ruthless bounty hunter side to Boba Fett’s character.
How BOBF Season 2 Could Fix Boba Fett
There is still hope for Boba Fett’s show moving forward. At the end of The Book of Boba Fett season 1, it seemed like he was finally listening to Fennec Shand on how they should be running things. After the lackluster first season, it looks like when the characters return, they will be more like what the audience had hoped for in the first run of episodes.
To stay away from the Darth Vader mistake for Boba Fett and get back on track, all the creative team behind the show has to do is make Boba Fett as cool as audiences always thought he was. It’s not hard to make Boba Fett cool; actually, most of the job is already done. When you’ve got great actors like Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett and Ming-Na Wen as the awesome Fennec Shand, the possibilities are there. All Disney and Lucasfilm need to do with The Book of Boba Fett season 2 — or any future appearances of the character — is to make stories that fit the character, and then the audience will be on board.
