One thing you gotta give the Star Wars franchise: When the title makes a promise, the movie keeps it. Solo is about Solo. A New Hope is about a new hope. George Lucas, What Have You Done? is about George Lucas and what he’s done. There’s never been a live-action Star Wars TV series before, but on Wednesday, Jon Favreau, who is executive producing and writing the first one, posted some details on Instagram that place it firmly in the series’ tradition of truth in advertising. The show will be about a Mandalorian, and it will be titled The Mandalorian:
The Mandalorian is headed for Disney’s upcoming subscription video service, tentatively named Disney Play. The series’ timeframe, seven years after the Battle of Yavin, had already been announced, but the title and plot details are new. The most famous Mandalorian in the Star Wars universe, of course, was the bounty hunter Boba Fett, who made his debut in The Empire Strikes Back before being eaten by a Sarlacc in a tragic jet-pack accident during Return of the Jedi. The second most famous Mandalorian was Jango Fett, who was beheaded by Mace Windu many years before Boba’s equally dramatic demise. Which means that the Mandalorian in The Mandalorian—more of a Mandalorian, really—will be battling with Clone Wars characters for third place, since neither of the top two Mandalorians are available for guest appearances. Or are they? Here’s how C3PO describes the Boba Fett’s final resting place in Return of the Jedi:
You will therefore be taken into the Dune Sea and cast into the Pit of Carkoon, the nesting place of the all-powerful Sarlacc. … In his belly, you will find a new definition of pain and suffering, as you are slowly digested over a thousand years.
Return of the Jedi takes place four years after A New Hope, and The Mandalorian takes place three years after that, meaning that Boba Fett has 997 years of leisurely digestion-by-Sarlacc ahead of him, Mandalorian armor and all. That gives Favreau plenty of time before the window for Boba Fett cameos closes, and leaves open the intriguing possibility of a season-long heist set inside the Sarlacc’s digestive tract. Bring us the partially-digested corpse of Boba Fett, Jon Favreau! No disintegrations.
