'The Mandalorian' lead Pedro Pascal won’t play Boba Fett but a new 'Star Wars' character makes the Disney+ show more interesting
When the news first broke that the first-ever live-action 'Star Wars' show would be called 'The Mandalorian', a lot of people immediately assumed it would focus on the iconic Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett. New reports suggest fans weren't the only ones who made that assumption as Pedro Pascal, the star of the series, told Disney's Twenty-Three magazine that he initially thought he was being asked to play Fett before showrunner Jon Favreau clarified he would be playing a brand new character.
"I wanted to meet Jon Favreau. I didn't care what he wanted me to do," Pascal explained. "So we met in Jon's office, which was covered with story illustrations from this show — and I noticed the Mandalorian, a Boba Fett-looking character, immediately. I thought to myself, 'Oh, it's amazing that they are finally gonna get into this character.' Jon talked about the story, visuals and tone. I thought it was amazing and finally asked, 'Well, who am I?' I'm pointing to different characters, creatures and aliens in the concept art, and John just looked at me and said 'You're the Mandalorian.' I was like, 'WHAT? I get to play Boba Fett?' He said, 'No, he's not Boba Fett. He's the Mandalorian.' I couldn't have imagined a better moment."
Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch) made his first appearance in the franchise in 'Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back' when he was hired by Darth Vader (David Prowse) to capture Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Though he is a relatively minor character in the vast world of 'Star Wars', Boba has gone on to become one of the most iconic characters in the franchise, appearing in multiple movies, shows and novels.
Rumors of a project based on the character have been doing the rounds for years now but it looks like that won't be happening anytime soon and that might just be a good thing. While Boba is definitely a popular character, 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' is evidence enough for why it's a bad idea to focus too much on existing characters.
Despite receiving largely favorable reviews, 'Solo' was the least successful 'Star Wars' film at the box office primarily because a lot of fans were disappointed that the franchise had cast someone other than Harrison Ford in the iconic role of Han Solo. It also didn't help that a lot of the fans saw 'Solo' as just another attempt at milking the profits from a popular character and any project involving Boba Fett would inevitably face the same criticisms.
By not bringing the iconic bounty hunter into the mix, 'The Mandalorian' has a relatively clean slate with which to tell its story. Not knowing much about the hero makes the show all the more interesting and the fact that even his name hasn't been revealed yet makes the character feel like a tribute to Clint Eastwood's iconic Man with No Name. As cool as it would be to see more of Boba Fett, he has already had his fair share of the spotlight and it's about time some new characters got a chance to shine.
'The Mandalorian' will land on Disney+ November 12.
