The Book of Boba Fett: Why Boba Fett and Fennec Shand Deserve Their Own Spinoff

Season 2 of Star Wars: The Mandalorian is officially in the books, and it brought some epic and unprecedented additions to the galaxy far, far away in the process. The sophomore season brought in a wealth of new lore and Easter eggs into the franchise, while also weaving in some fan-favorite characters from the other films and animated series in the process. One of the standouts of the season was definitely the return of Boba Fett (Temura Morrison), who was confirmed to be alive and traveling the galaxy with Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). The final moments of the Season 2 finale showcased what’s next for the duo, with a The Book of Boba Fett series arriving on Disney+ in December 2021. While the confirmation definitely took a lot of fans by surprise, it arguably set up one of the most warranted extensions of the franchise yet.

The idea of a newer Boba Fett adaptation has been part of Disney and Lucasfilm’s partnership essentially from the beginning, with Josh Trank initially lined up to direct a solo film around the character. Over the years, the project fizzled out, and a portion of fans had resigned themselves to the fact that any Boba-related lore would come through stories about other Mandalorians. This made the appearance of Morrison’s Boba in The Mandalorian Season 2 premiere all the more of a pleasant surprise — opening up a huge can of worms in the process. Not only did this confirm that Boba survived his seemingly-tragic dip into the Sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi, but it raised the question of exactly how he did that — and how he came to lose his armor to Jawas and gain a lot of new tools along the way. The title The Book of Boba Fett definitely hints at the possibility of those moments being explored, whether through entirely new canon, the countless stories about Boba in the Legends canon, or a combination of the two.

Meanwhile, there’s Fennec Shand — a character who debuted for the first time in The Mandalorian‘s first season, but quickly and unabashedly grew into a fan-favorite. Outside of establishing that she was a veteran assassin, and is somehow involved with the events of the upcoming animated series The Bad Batch, there is so much of Fennec’s story that audiences don’t know about yet. Fennec’s role in the series could help turn the tide even more for women of color within the larger Star Wars universe, and having Na-Wen bring her to life has oodles of more potential behind it, especially as she has become iconic for playing trailblazing badass women like Mulan, Chung-Li, and Melinda May.

There’s also the nature of that post-credits scene for The Mandalorian‘s Season 2 finale, which saw Boba and Fennec make their way back to Jabba’s Palace, killing Bib Fortuna and taking their place on the throne. That moment definitely puts the duo into uncharted territory, all while providing an opportunity to dive into the criminal underworld of the Star Wars universe following the events of the original trilogy, weaving in new character cameos along the way. That, combined with the potential to explore both Boba and Fennec without it directly being an extension of Din Djarin’s (Pedro Pascal) story on The Mandalorian, is undeniably promising.

Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett is set to debut on Disney+ in December of 2021. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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