The Mandalorian’s Dave Filoni Praises “Priceless” Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett

Lucasfilm producer and director Dave Filoni says Star Wars veteran Temuera Morrison is “the exact person” for the role of feared bounty hunter Boba Fett in The Mandalorian. The second season of the Jon Favreau-created Disney+ series re-introduced a Sarlacc-scarred Boba (sans armor) in “Chapter 9: The Marshal,” where Tatooine lawman Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant) salvaged the suit not seen since 1983’s Return of the Jedi. When a gaffi stick-swinging Boba and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) beat and blast their way through a Stormtrooper squadron in “Chapter 14: The Tragedy,” where Boba dons his armor reclaimed by Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal), it makes a statement: Boba is back.

“He’s priceless. He’s immeasurable. He is the exact person for that role,” Filoni told the Star Wars Show of Morrison, who played Jango Fett and the cloned Stormtroopers in George Lucas’ prequel trilogy. “He’s got the armor, and we used it.”

When Boba bludgeons and blasts his way through Imperial forces in the Robert Rodriguez-directed episode, “Finally, the story in that moment is about him, so he should do all those things.”

“In the old films, he’s a player in it, but it’s not about him,” Filoni said of Boba’s bit roles in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, where the armor is worn by actor Jeremy Bulloch. “And I love it when he says, ‘I don’t want your armor, I want my armor.’ You’re just like, ‘Wow! It’s Boba Fett claiming his armor back!’

For Morrison, who hadn’t appeared on-screen in Star Wars since Revenge of the Sith in 2005, the experience was similar.

“There were moments when I put the armor on, and I was looking at Dave and Jon, and the expression on their faces just said it all,” Morrison told StarWars.com. “It felt good. It felt right. It felt like, ‘Yes, I should be wearing this costume.’ And it gave me this sense of, ‘I’m back.’”

Morrison next stars in The Book of Boba Fett, a new Star Wars story spinning out of The Mandalorian. The spin-off is revealed in a post-credits scene ending the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, “The Rescue,” which promises Fett’s return in December 2021.

All episodes of The Mandalorian are now streaming only on Disney+. If you haven’t signed up for Disney+ yet, you can try it out here.

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