Star Wars: James Mangold Addresses Boba Fett Spin-Off Rumors

Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm resulted in the announcement of a variety of new projects unrelated to the episodic Skywalker Saga films, igniting theories about which characters and events would get their own film. The bounty hunter Boba Fett is a fan-favorite character, making it seem like a given that he would get his own time to shine with a spin-off film. Logan writer/director James Mangold was rumored to be developing the project, only to recently share on Twitter that his next project has nothing to do with the galaxy far, far away.

When a Twitter user sent a message to the filmmaker to claim, "Boba Fett movie = Worst idea ever," Mangold shifted the focus on his upcoming confirmed project. "Look what I got from a self-proclaimed 'lover of life'! Seriously Blackbird, chill. I'm making a period car racing movie w/ Christian Bale & Matt Damon," the filmmaker clarified. "No Mandalorians involved. Stop reading so much gossip."

Prior to the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, rumors emerged that claimed Mangold would write and direct a story focusing on the bounty hunter, with Lucasfilm neither confirming nor denying those reports. In the weeks since that initial report emerged, more details have surfaced regarding Lucasfilm's future that only further complicated matters.

For a variety of factors, Solo disappointed both financially and critically, with its release schedule, storyline, and audience apprehension leading to the film underperforming. The disappointment led to reports that Lucasfilm was putting an indefinite halt on developing spin-off films, focusing instead on Episode IX, The Last Jedi writer/director Rian Johnson's trilogy of films, and Game of Thrones co-creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss' series of films.

Shortly after those initial reports, Lucasfilm themselves claimed that they were still developing multiple unannounced projects, despite not giving any further details about those projects.

An important point about the various unannounced projects is that no official details emerged, meaning it's possible that both the initial reports about delays in developing projects could be correct while Lucasfilm's note about everything moving as scheduled could also be correct.

Whether any of these plans did have Mangold involved at one point, if he's still involved, and the status of those projects remains unclear.

The next film in the Star Wars saga, Episode IX, hits theaters on December 20, 2019.

What do you think about Mangold's remarks regarding Mandalorians? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

[H/T Twitter, mang0ld]