Warning: Contains SPOILERS for The Book of Boba Fett
Boba Fett’s story in the Star Wars canon timeline continues in The Book of Boba Fett, though it appears to be skipping on some of the best parts of Fett’s history after Return of the Jedi in the Legends timeline. Although Boba Fett had relatively little screen time in the original Star Wars trilogy, non-movie material in both canon and Legends explored his personality, making him a complex and morally gray character without doing a disservice to menacing appeal in the original trilogy. Many of Boba Fett’s best stories in Legends take place after he escapes from the sarlacc pit, where he suffers the long-term effects of its digestion process and transitions into a more honorable leadership role. Canon follows this outline in the broad strokes, and while it moves Fett along this path far more quickly than Legends, it retains some of its most important qualities.
The Star Wars Legends timeline was initially the only continuity in the franchise, but when it was relegated to an alternate reality in 2014, the original and prequel trilogies became overlapping continuity between the canon and Legends universes. In Legends, Boba Fett was expanded on as soon as writers had the opportunity to delve into the fan-favorite bounty hunter. The classic Marvel comics and Tales of the Bounty Hunters short story collection each gave different accounts of Fett’s backstory, but Legends cleverly reconciled them with Fett’s prequel trilogy origin by having the former be Spar (a rogue ARC Trooper who masqueraded as Fett while working for the CIS) and the latter be an alias used by Fett (Jaster Mereel).
In the canon timeline, Boba Fett follows a similar path to his Legends counterpart, but he’s far less interested in his Mandalorian heritage. Following the establishment of the Galactic Empire in Legends, Boba Fett lived on his father’s homeworld of Concord Dawn, becoming a Journeyman Protector like Jango Fett’s mentor and father figure, Jaster Mereel (inspiring Boba Fett’s alias). By the time Boba Fett became a bounty hunter, he’d become well-accustomed to the ways of the Mandalorian people, and he simply returned to a more active role in Mandalorian society after retiring from mercenary work. The canon timeline’s Boba Fett is indifferent to his ties to Mandalorian culture, though he reveres his late father, who was a Mandalorian in both timelines. With this and other differences from his Legends counterpart, canon’s Boba Fett misses out on many of the Legends version’s most exciting stories.
What Happened To Boba Fett After Return Of The Jedi In Star Wars Legends
Following his second escape from the Pit of Carkoon in Legends (after being forced back into the sarlacc by jawas several days after first extracting himself), Boba Fett continued his career as a bounty hunter, though he kept an even lower profile than usual. The digestive fluids and telepathic connection formed with the creature permanently affected Fett’s body. Boba Fett’s metabolism was altered, he lost a leg (replacing it with an uncomfortable prosthetic), and he required costly medical treatments as a preventative measure against an aggressive form of cancer. Over time, this would gradually whittle down the considerable fortune that Fett had both inherited from his father and grew by being the galaxy’s most skilled and sought-after bounty hunter.
Boba Fett finally made his return common knowledge in Dark Empire, where he pursued his old enemy, Han Solo, repeatedly failing to capture or kill the former smuggler in a series of climactic clashes. After two particularly successful hunts, Fett earned a substantial number of credits, a cloned replacement leg from Kamino, and the position of Mand’alor, succeeding Fenn Shysa. This allowed Fett to finally retire from his bounty hunting career almost two decades after the events of Return of the Jedi, and his position as Mand’alor had him re-embrace his Mandalorian culture, taking a position once held by both Jango Fett and Jaster Mereel.
Star Wars Legends Has Boba Fett’s Most Interesting Post-ROTJ Stories
The tumultuous fallout following Fett’s two stays inside the sarlacc pit gave him his most interesting stories in the Legends timeline. Fett’s rivalry with fellow bounty hunter Dengar became a close friendship, with the Corellian helping Fett recover following his second escape from the Pit of Carkoon. Other bounty hunters, like the duplicitous Jodo Kast and Fett’s vengeful daughter, Ailyn Vel, took advantage of his supposed death and masqueraded as him in similar suits of armor. As the Mand’alor, Boba Fett ended his feud with Han Solo and helped train his daughter, Jaina Solo, to assist her in defeating her brother, the Sith Lord Darth Caedus (formerly Jacen Solo). During this time, Boba Fett also met and gradually reconnected with his granddaughter, Mirta Gev.
While Boba Fett was still depicted as a villain for many of his post-Return of the Jedi Legends history, his health-related woes and reconnection with his family members added a key human element to the normally-aloof bounty hunter. Fett’s gradual vengeance against Jodo Kast in Boba Fett: Twin Engines of Destruction was thrilling and action-packed, harkening back to Boba Fett’s menacing original trilogy appearances. The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett shows Fett’s ingenuity when he captures one of his biggest bounties with no armor and armed with only a crossbow. Boba Fett’s newfound honor and role as a leader is explored in the Legacy of the Force novels, adding even more humanity and complexities to the morally gray former bounty hunter.
How Boba Fett’s Star Wars Legends Story Could’ve Been Used In Canon
The canon timeline could have integrated many of these Legends-era stories into The Book of Boba Fett. While Jango Fett was said to not be a Mandalorian, but merely a common mercenary in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian established that the broad strokes of his Legends-era backstory were part of the canon timeline as well, making him a true Mandalorian. Boba Fett, on the other hand, takes a significantly different path from his Legends counterpart, having an epiphany during his brief time as a member of a Tusken Raider tribe and ending his bounty hunter career in favor of becoming an honorable crime lord.
While much of The Book of Boba Fett could have adapted stories like Fett hunting down Jodo Kast or pursuing a Devaronian outlaw with none of his technology, the series instead focuses on why Fett changed his career. Most of Fett’s post-Return of the Jedi stories can, however, be adapted in a second season of The Book of Boba Fett. Fett can still fight impostors and perhaps even leave his crime lord position and embrace his Mandalorian culture, finding it to be more honorable than his crime lord position. This would also allow canon to introduce new versions of Ailyn Vel or Mirta Gev, giving them similar backstories to their Legends-era counterparts.
Why Star Wars Canon Changes Boba Fett’s Story From Legends
Boba Fett has fully recovered from his sarlacc-related ailments by the fourth episode of The Book of Boba Fett, and he’s established a lack of interest in becoming a Mandalorian. Although Boba Fett is on a seemingly different path than his Legends counterpart, the two iterations share a similar core characterization. Both canon and Legends emphasize and develop the complexity and humanity of Boba Fett after his Return of the Jedi defeat, and both place him in a leadership position in which he becomes far more honorable than he was in the original trilogy films. So while The Book of Boba Fett might be skipping out on adapting the best Legends-era stories (so far), it humanizes Fett and depicts him as well as Legends did, albeit differently.
The Book of Boba Fett airs Wednesdays on Disney+
