Just like ours, the Star Wars universe will never stop expanding.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Disney and Lucasfilm have decided to pursue a stand-alone film based on popular bounty hunter Boba Fett — you know, the guy who spoke 27 words total in the original trilogy before being unceremoniously dumped into the Sarlacc Pit in Return of the Jedi — and Logan director James Mangold will take the helm.
The movie will be the third confirmed Star Wars movie to focus on a single character, following Solo: A Star Wars Story and the still-in-early-stages Obi-Wan Kenobi stand-alone film, which may be directed by Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliott) and could focus on the days following Episode III, when Kenobi lived as a hermit on Tatooine, overseeing the growth of young Luke Skywalker from afar.
Per the report, Simon Kinberg — screenwriter of The Martian, as well as several X-Men movies — was rumored to be involved with a Boba Fett movie, though it’s unclear if that is still the case (or if that was even the same movie). Kinberg did work on Logan with Mangold, which could bode well, if you’re hoping for confirmation of his involvement.
If you’re unfamiliar, Fett first appeared in The Empire Strikes Back, hunting down Han Solo and delivering him into the messy mitts of Jabba the Hutt. Fett is known for his distinctive green armor, his jetpack, his awesome ship (the Slave I), and his reticence.
In Attack of the Clones, Obi-Wan met a young Fett, who later witnessed the death of his own father (Jango Fett, also a bounty hunter) at the hands of Jedi Master Mace Windu. As with many characters in the Star Wars canon, Fett has been further fleshed out in many “extended universe” books, comics, and video games, though it’s unlikely Lucasfilm would include any such stories. Fett was portrayed in the original trilogy by Jeremy Bulloch, who is now 73 and probably not in any shape to be flying around with a jetpack on. New Zealand actor Daniel Logan played a young Fett in Episode II, but he hasn’t had any acting credits since 2003.
In addition to Logan, Mangold is known for directing Walk The Line, 3:10 to Yuma, and The Wolverine. The 54-year-old is also working on a script for a movie focused on Laura — aka X-23 — the Wolverine-like mutant girl in Logan.
