Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett Premiere Event Postponed Due to COVID

Lucasfilm and Disney have had to postpone the premiere event for the upcoming Star Wars event series The Book of Boba Fett, due to COVID-19. While there has been no confirmed case of COVID among The Book of Boba Fett cast or crew, it is being reported that Disney has grown increasingly concerned about the new Omicron variant of COVID that has swept across the US (and much of the world) at a rapid pace. Right now, The Book of Boba Fett Hollywood premiere and red carpet is being delayed from January 4th to February 8th; The Book of Boba Fett will begin streaming on Disney+ on December 29th. 

According to Deadline, Star Wars TV architects Jon Favreau (The Mandalorian), Dave Filoni (Clone Wars), and Robert Rodriguez (Book of Boba Fett) were all set to appear at the premiere – as was Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy and Book of Boba Fett co-star, Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shand). It's noted that additional appearances were to be "announced in the future"; it's easy to assume that Lucasfilm will have even more potential surprise guests for the event, given this new release date. 

Indeed, by the time the "Premiere Event" happens, The Book of Boba Fett will have run through nearly all of its seven episodes. In fact, this is actually going to be more of a 'Finale red carpet event', as The Book of Boba Fett will stream its final episode on February 9th. 

That could be a very tricky PR stunt for Disney/Lucasfilm to pull off. If The Book of Boba Fett is anything like The Mandalorian, there could be some major guest star surprises in store for the finale – with the potential level of guest star going as high as Harrison Ford's Han Solo. If that's the case, then any celebrity appearance on a red carpet will instantly tip-off Star Wars fans that the twist is coming. But leaving any big guest star out of the event doesn't seem like a move many Hollywood actors would abide by. 

Then again, a lot of these new franchise TV series (read: the Marvel Disney+ series) tend to save their biggest character or plot reveals for the penultimate episode; if that's the case with The Book of Boba Fett, then this February 9th event could end up being the first big public appearance for any number of the surprise cameo actors in the series up to that point. 

The Book of Boba Fett starts streaming on Disney+ on December 29th.