Boba Fett Designs Were Originally for Super Stormtroopers

By Jamie Lovett

It might be hard for Star Wars fans to think of Boba Fett's armor as belonging to anyone but the most feared bounty hunter in a galaxy far, far away, but that wasn't always the intent. On Disney+ Day, Disney released a new documentary special titled Boba Fett: Under the Helmet. The documentary chronicles Boba Fett's creation, and the character's continued popularity among Star Wars fans well after the original Star Wars trilogy ended, leading towards the debut of The Book of Boba Fett in December. In the documentary, The Empire Strikes Back's art director Joe Johnston confirms that the design that would eventually belong to Boba Fett should have belonged to an army of what George Lucas called "super" Stormtroopers.

The plan was to make 100 such armors, but the film's budget ultimately didn't allow for it. Since they'd already made the first armor as a prototype, Lucas suggested using it for a bounty hunter character. Johnston darkened the previously white armor, and Boba Fett was born.

Fett being an afterthought creation salvaging a design intended for another use may help explain why the popular character only has six and a half minutes of screen time in the original trilogy. That all changed with the dawn of the Star Wars streaming era, with Boba Fett appearing in The Mandalorian's second season, as played by Temuera Morrison. Next up, Boba Fett leads the spinoff series The Book of Boba Fett, with Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) by his side.

Per Disney, "The Book of Boba Fett, a thrilling Star Wars adventure, finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the galaxy's underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate."

"There is a power vacuum," executive producer Jon Favreau explained to Empire Magazine. "Because Jabba is gone. Jabba was clearly a very strong and imposing leader, who people were very scared of, and who seemed to rule with an iron fist. You pull somebody like that out of the ecosystem of Tatooine -- and Hutt Space in general -- and you have the opportunity that's ripe in the gangster genre."

What do you think of Boba Fett's design first belonging to super Stormtroopers? Let us know in the comments. Boba Fett: Under the Helmet is streaming now on Disney+. The Book of Boba Fett debuts on Disney+ on December 29th.

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