Spoilers ahead for the first two episodes of The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+.
The Book of Boba Fett has its earliest roots all the way back in Star Wars: Episode VI –Return of the Jedi in 1983, but the show has quickly moved beyond the Sarlacc Pit in the sands of Tatooine to fill in some blanks for Boba himself. In the second episode of the series, viewers saw the iconic Star Wars character go on a vision quest of sorts after bonding with the Tuskens, and the stars spoke with CinemaBlend about the rebirth that resulted in the flashbacks.
Stars Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen, who previously played their roles as Boba Fett and Fennec Shand on The Mandalorian, weighed in on the twist for Boba and the rebirth he experienced after forming his unlikely friendship with the Tuskens. Morrison said:
I think that's what it's about. It was just revealing the real Boba, what he's been through. We're stripping away the layers, finding him at his vulnerable points. The influence of the Tuskens, they trained him to make him hard. They trained him to survive in these harsh conditions, taken into their tribe, becoming schooled in their arts and their martial arts. Having the sensei, the Tusken sensei, take me under her wing.
The training sequences with the Tuskens (and the sensei in particular) established why Boba could do what he could do with his staff in The Mandalorian Season 2, and were part of what have helped Boba Fett build his own new identity in the flashbacks. Temuera Morrison also shared that the woman who played that Tusken sensei was stunt performer Joanna Bennett, with whom he’d previously worked on Aquaman.
But the fight sequences were only part of helping Boba rebuild himself after the events of Return of the Jedi on Tatooine. The Tuskens gave him the gift of a lizard that scurried into his face and guided him from inside his head in a fairly trippy sequence, which was unlike anything that had happened in a Star Wars movie or TV show before The Book of Boba Fett. Morrison continued:
I think this is what the series is about, revealing some of these stories and the background story. So we've been blessed that we didn't see too much of Boba in those earlier episodes, so now it's a blessing. Now we can discover his world, along with the fan. So I'm glad you enjoyed it. We went on a trip. The rebirthing, I think that's what that was all about finding. Finding the branch.
By filling in the blanks of Boba Fett’s past between Return of the Jedi and where Star Wars picked up with him again in The Mandalorian, the newest show is building the world that he inhabits and revealing the kind of man he is after all of his ordeals. And as much as he’s facing a whole new set of ordeals now that he has taken over from Bib Fortuna, the show couldn’t fully move forward with his story without showing the rebirth.
Ming-Na Wen’s Fennec Shand hasn’t appeared in the flashbacks, but the actress counts herself as a fan of the storyline as well. She shared her thoughts on Boba Fett’s journey with the Tuskens:
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What I loved when I watched it was really seeing Boba going from that solo alone bounty hunter, and then becoming part of the Tusken tribe and family. And, you know, nurturing that sort of humanity in him that I don't think was there earlier on. As a Star Wars fan, it was remarkable. And it was so much fun to watch, that transformation.
The transformation journey took some big steps forward, after Boba Fett helped the Tuskens learn how to defend their territory and then went on his journey with the lizard in his head. He now has a weapon in the Tusken style thanks to the branch he brought back with him. The actors didn’t spoil what’s ahead with the storyline, but Temuera Morrison previewed that fans have a lot to excited about:
And [it's] certainly gonna get better. Better! Episode 1 had to do a lot of setting up, I guess, and a little bit of filling in the gaps. And then I felt Episode 2 really sort of went up a notch, I feel. But we'll wait and see. But it was very exciting. Very exciting, wonderful place to work. Wonderful people. We had to work with very talented people. And we had a great time as well.
Boba Fett’s story is still unfolding, and having Fennec Shand at his right hand has already helped keep him alive while fighting to hold his position of power on Tatooine. There’s no shortage of people with a motive to want him killed, so he can use all the trusted allies he can get. With Fennec skilled enough that she can scoff at lesser assassins, their partnership seems likely to keep going strong.
See what’s next for them with new episodes of The Book of Boba Fett releasing on Wednesdays on Disney+. The show is bringing together all corners of the galaxy far, far away, with elements from the films, The Mandalorian, and even The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch (which featured the voice talents of Ming-Na Wen as Fennec) as animated series. Based on the appearance of a certain character in Episode 2, it’s looking like some characters hailing from the pages of Star Wars comics might be on the way as well.
Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer
Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).
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