Boba Fett: Danny Trejo's Star Wars Cameo Surprised Temuera Morrison

By Cameron Bonomolo

The Book of Boba Fett showrunner Robert Rodriguez and actor Danny Trejo are frequent collaborators, but series star Temuera Morrison says it was "a bit of a surprise" seeing Trejo show up on set of the Star Wars spinoff. Trejo — who has appeared in second cousin Rodriguez's Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, and Spy Kids — makes his Star Wars debut in "Chapter 3: The Streets of Mos Espa," the latest episode directed by Rodriguez. The Machete star plays a Rancor wrangler, trainer of the creature gifted to Daimyo Boba Fett (Morrison) by the Hutt Twins.

The reveal of Trejo as a Rancor keeper "actually was kept a bit of a surprise," Morrison told TVLine during Boba Fett's Television Critics Association winter press tour panel. "I didn't know until the last minute, until Danny got there that day for filming." 

Morrison and Trejo "go way back, to the [1998] movie Six Days, Seven Nights," where they played pirates Jager and Pierce. On The Book of Boba Fett, Trejo's character teaches the crime boss about the "emotionally complex creature" that now inhabits the dungeon of what used to be Jabba the Hutt's palace. 

"Danny has got that great face, great texture, great voice... We had a great time together," Morrison said of the beginnings of the Rancor trainer's teachings.

Describing herself as "a massive Danny Trejo fan," co-star Ming-Na Wen, who plays Master Assassin Fennec Shand, added it was "inevitable" Trejo would appear in The Mandalorian spinoff showran and directed by Rodriguez (Chapters 1 and 3). "Danny is the coolest human being," Wen said. "He has the heart of a warrior and the personality of a teddy bear." 

During Boba Fett's panel at the Television Critics Association tour, Morrison and Wen addressed criticisms surrounding the droid-enhanced youth biker gang that takes to the streets of Mos Espa on colorful speeder bikes in Chapter 3. 

"Some of these things are out of our control. We can't say as performers, 'We don't want to work with these people, that's not good enough,'" Morrison said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "They brought a lot of color to it, I thought ... They were great, were working hard."

New episodes of The Book of Boba Fett premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.

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