Boba Fett spin-off Star Wars movie is no longer happening, apparently

Image: Lucasfilm/Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

Boba Fett won’t be getting an adventure of his own after all, or at least not anytime soon.

The famed Star Wars bounty hunter had been pegged for a spin-off movie of his own back in May, but it’s not happening anymore. That buzzy upcoming TV series The Mandalorian (among other things) seems to have put it to rest.

The Boba Fett movie wasn’t ever officially announced, and its technically-informal cancellation also comes to us via shadowy sources. Variety reported on Friday that Lucasfilm is no longer working on the project, and Disney/Lucasfilm had no comment.

Let this be a lesson to all of us for future movie rumors: In ? development ? doesn’t ? mean ? a thing ? is happening ?.

In the original report, the Boba Fett film was meant to fall under the banner of “A Star Wars Story” anthology movies like Rogue One and Solo. James Mangold, whose credits include The Wolverine and Logan, had reportedly been tapped to write and direct.

That news broke, again thanks to unnamed sources, right around the time Solo hit theaters. As much as The Mandalorian — a show whose title is a reference to Fett’s cultural background (he’s a Mandalorian) — may have influenced the decision to skip the spinoff, Solo‘s box office failure reportedly prompted Disney to dial back some of its ambitious Star Wars plans.

The Mandalorian doesn’t focus directly on Fett. It’s set during the time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, focusing on, per the official description, “a lone gunfighter in the outer reaches of the galaxy far from the authority of the New Republic.”

Fett seemed to die in Return of the Jedi, an ignominious death in which a malfunctioning jetpack plunged him straight into the mouth of the Sarlacc Pit. But there’s some suggestion in Chuck Wendig’s canonical book Star Wars: Aftermath that the bounty hunter (or perhaps just his armor) made it out.

Whatever the truth is, The Mandalorian could be a great platform for bringing back the fan-favorite bounty hunter. His familiar face(mask) — or even just the impact of his legacy — could help foster interest in the show.

Of course, remember to take in all of this with the appropriate amount of doubt. May’s report was noteworthy given the timing and the source of the news — The Hollywood Reporter. This new report from Variety, an equally trustworthy source of insider Hollywood news, is also worth acknowledging. 

But none of this was ever confirmed. Even if both outlets are citing legitimate sources, there’s no telling how much of the story we’re not hearing.