No, ‘The Mandalorian’ is Not About Boba Fett

Disney gave fans their first look at the very first live action Star Wars show, The Mandalorian. Set in the lawless days immediately following Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, The Mandalorian follows a nameless bounty hunter trying to survive on the galaxy’s fringes. All we know about the character is that he is simply known as “The Mandalorian,” and that he is being played by Game of Thrones alum Pedro Pascal. However, that hasn’t stopped fans from presuming that The Mandalorian is a Boba Fett series. Here’s the thing…

The Mandalorian is NOT about Boba Fett.

Yes, the Mandalorian looks like Boba Fett, and yes, Boba Fett was a bounty hunter who wore Mandalorian armor. However, they are not the same character.

Boba Fett wears a specific kind of armor that comes from the planet Mandalore. It’s in honor of his “father,” Jango Fett, a Mandalorian bounty hunter who let himself be cloned in order to create a massive clone army for the Old Republic. The armor is made out of beskar, a super strong metal in the Star Wars universe. The armor is a big deal in Mandalorian culture, as beskar is both rare and expensive, and the armor is usually only worn by the warrior class. In Star Wars: Rebels, we learn that Sabine Wren’s own armor is a family heirloom, over 500 years old.

The Star Wars live action films have only brushed against Mandalorian culture, most notably with regards to Jango and Boba Fett’s armor. Animated series like Star Wars: Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels delve deeper into the culture — which is complex, technologically advanced, and aesthetically beautiful — and introduce two Mandalorian heroines. In Star Wars: Clone Wars, we meet Duchess Satine Kryze. She ruled over Mandalore after a conflict that pitted the culture’s older, martial past pitted against Satine’s pacifist party. Sabine Wren was a main character in Star Wars: Rebels. She had fallen out with her family when she left the Imperial Academy over moral objections.

Back to The Mandalorian… The series is not about Boba Fett, but a new Mandalorian character we have yet to meet. In the fallout of the Rebellion’s victory over the Empire, the galaxy finds itself in a state of unrest. Without the Empire providing structure and control, some areas have erupted into lawlessness. This is where we find the Mandalorian. He’s a bounty hunter trying to make ends meet in the worst parts of the galaxy.

Now, I guess there’s a minute possibility that the Mandalorian is Boba Fett. After all, the old Expanded Universe series revealed that Boba Fett survived the fall into the sarlacc pit. However, those stories have been pushed out of canon in recent years. Meaning, canonically, Boba Fett is still dead. But maybe he isn’t. But even if he’s alive, we doubt the Mandalorian is Boba Fett because the official Star Wars log-line for the show says he’s not: “After the stories of Jango and Boba Fett, another warrior emerges in the Star Wars universe.”

So, no, The Mandalorian is not about Boba Fett. It’s not a Boba Fett show! Deal with it! Accept it in your heart, and move on with your lives.

The Mandalorian premieres on Disney+ on November 12.