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Review: ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ Gives a ‘Star Wars’ Icon His Own Chapter

Disney+ follows “The Mandalorian” with a series about the fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett, long believed to have died in the Sarlacc’s belly.

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By Mike Hale

The enduring popularity of Boba Fett , a bit player in the “Star Wars” cosmos, makes perfect sense. He was introduced in “The Empire Strikes Back” not as a character but as a piece of pure, ingenious product design.

The inscrutable helmet with its dagger-like visor, the superheroic costume, the jet packs, the upright spaceship scooting through the ether: He was a jolt of style among the cheap plastic and laughable rubber that clothed most of the figures onscreen. He looked fantastic, but he also looked real, and he was the closest visual analogue to the Flash Gordon serials that inspired the films. In a movie series that became a merchiverse, whose process feels less like telling stories than like putting products on shelves, Boba Fett was a natural commodity.

Four decades later, he was put to use in establishing the Disney+ streaming service. The popular series “The Mandalorian” was built around the Fett iconography; its protagonist’s refusal to remove his helmet means that his character is embodied in his armor, in the indomitability and defensiveness it represents.

Fett himself turned up in the second season of “The Mandalorian,” his first live-action role since appearing as a child in “Attack of the Clones” in 2002. And now, finally, he’s a star, headlining his own seven-episode series, “The Book of Boba Fett,” which premiered Wednesday on Disney+. It’s from largely the same team, led by Jon Favreau, that produced “The Mandalorian,” and early in the first episode it acknowledges the centrality of costume and production design as the onetime bounty hunter Fett (Temuera Morrison) and his sidekick, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), ritually don their outfits like fashion models preparing for the runway.

To its credit, “Book” doesn’t dwell on that kind of fan service, though at this point in the evolution of “Star Wars” just about everything is a self-reference, like the mere presence of the diminutive desert-dwelling Jawas, or the arid landscapes of the show’s setting, the Skywalker home planet, Tatooine. The presence of Morrison is its own in-joke: Boba is a clone of another bounty hunter, Jango Fett, who was played by Morrison in “Attack of the Clones.”

In its first episode — no advance screeners were available — the story moves on several time tracks. In the present, Fett and Shand try to consolidate their control of the criminal element in Jabba the Hutt’s old stamping ground. When he sleeps, Fett has anxious flashbacks that fill in his history after what seemed to be his gruesome end in “Return of the Jedi.” (If the depiction of his escape from the digestive tract of the Sarlacc doesn’t agree with something you’ve seen in a “Star Wars” video game or comic book, repeat after me: “Noncanonical.”)

In the hands of Favreau, Dave Filoni and the director Robert Rodriguez, the premiere episode is “Mandalorian”-lite — competently put together, with the same quiet atmosphere and deliberate pace but without some of the earlier show’s moody stylishness or attention to detail. (And without, so far, anything that echoes the visual panache and merchandising genius of little Grogu, though of course the baby Yoda may cross over to “The Book of Boba Fett” at some point.) In Fett’s battles with human and animal foes, the dynamics of the action feel illogical, as if they haven’t been fully thought through.

A larger issue, though, may be Morrison and Wen, whose performances would be fine in a more routine, action-oriented show but are lacking the nuance they need for the more contemplative effect “Book” is trying for. (Matt Berry, David Pasquesi and Jennifer Beals are effective in smaller roles.) Favreau and company neglect the lesson from “Star Wars” history that they applied in their earlier show: A Mandalorian is more interesting with his helmet on.

Mike Hale is a television critic. He also writes about online video, film and media. He came to The Times in 1995 and worked as an editor in Sports, Arts & Leisure and Weekend Arts before becoming a critic in 2009. More about Mike Hale

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'The Book of Boba Fett' adds an impressive chapter to the 'Star Wars' saga

David Bianculli

Temura Morrison plays the title bounty hunter in The Book of Boba Fett. Disney+ hide caption

Temura Morrison plays the title bounty hunter in The Book of Boba Fett.

In one of the final episodes of the brilliant AMC drama series Breaking Bad , a supporting character named Saul Goodman, a shifty lawyer played by Bob Odenkirk , reveals his secret plan for survival. He'll adopt a new identity, and, in the best case, if things work out, manage a Cinnabon in Omaha. And that's exactly what happened, at the start of an equally wonderful spinoff series, Better Call Saul , which took this peripheral character and made him the star of his own show.

That's what Jon Favreau, the creator of The Book of Boba Fett , is doing with this new Disney+ fantasy series. Favreau directed the first Iron Man movie, the one that established the modern Marvel superhero universe. He also created The Mandalorian , so he's already worked that same magic for the Star Wars universe as well. And with his new Boba Fett spinoff, he does it again, impressively.

Return Of 'The Mandalorian' (And Baby Yoda)

You can get way, way deep into the weeds describing and dissecting this Star Wars stuff — after all, there's close to 50 years of onscreen history — but I'll try not to. All you need to know, really, is that Boba Fett is a bounty hunter who first showed up in The Empire Strikes Back, and appeared to die in the next film, Return of the Jedi. Decades later, in a series of Star Wars movie prequels, Boba Fett's father was introduced, played by Temuera Morrison.

On TV, Morrison now plays the role of the son, Boba Fett — first in The Mandalorian, and also in this new series. In The Mandalorian , Boba and his fellow bounty hunter, Fennec, helped rescue Baby Yoda from its evil captors — and reappeared, in a teaser clip at the end of last season, to kill another Star Wars villain, a descendant of Jabba the Hut. I know, that seems pretty deep into the weeds already, but stay with me. These are the building blocks for The Book of Boba Fett.

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The premiere episode was the only one shown to critics, but it's a good one. It's written by Favreau, and is one of three episodes directed by Robert Rodriguez, who's really comfortable with action, humor and special effects. The Book of Boba Fett is loaded with all three. It explains, in flashbacks, how Boba escaped death long ago — and also picks up the current story line, with Boba and Fennec trying to rule the city after killing its ruthless dictator.

Boba hopes to establish a more benevolent rule — but his partner Fennec has other ideas. She's played by Ming-Na Wen, who played one martial-arts expert in the ABC series Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. , and portrays an even tougher character here.

Anime Anthology 'Star Wars: Visions' Expands The Galaxy Far, Far Away

The biggest name in The Book of Boba Fett, so far, is guest star Jennifer Beals, who makes a small appearance in the premiere episode. But it's the story, and the way it's told, that really propels the series. The first 10 minutes contain no dialogue, which is a bold move, but it works. The characters are well-defined, the action is exciting and the special effects are as good as in any S tar Wars movie. When Boba Fett squares off against a giant, six-limbed lizard creature, that battle scene is better than anything in any Godzilla movie, old or new.

The music by Ludwig Göransson , who also provides music for The Mandalorian, is majestically weird — an odd cross between a John Williams score and a spaghetti Western. Many of the same writers and directors from The Mandalorian also are doing double duty for The Book of Boba Fett – and in my book, that means this latest "Star Wars" chapter is in really good hands.

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Disney+’s ‘the book of boba fett’: tv review.

Temuera Morrison's enigmatic bounty hunter Boba Fett gets a Tatooine-based showcase in this new spinoff of 'The Mandalorian.'

By Daniel Fienberg

Daniel Fienberg

Chief Television Critic

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His mask and single-minded mission made him enigmatic. But it was scarcity that rendered Boba Fett so alluring to so many Star Wars fans who made the backstory-deficient bounty hunter a key player in backyard battles spinning familiar action figures off into their own side adventures.

Would the allure of Boba Fett have been as strong if his journey from Star Wars Holiday Special oddity to Han Solo tormentor to sarlacc kibble hadn’t been so abrupt, and forged from so little screen time? It’s hard to tell, but George Lucas and the subsequent shepherds of the Star Wars legacy have been committed to draining this world of all mystique, filling in gaps whenever possible and leaving as little as possible to the imagination.

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Airdate: Wednesday, December 29

Cast: Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen

Writer: Jon Favreau

Director: Robert Rodriguez

To be clear, that hasn’t necessarily been a bad thing: The tendency toward over-explanation yielded the rousing thrills of Rogue One and the consistent entertainment of the first two seasons of The Mandalorian , which has proven to be both an Emmy winner and a service centerpiece for Disney+ .

Disney+ didn’t send advance screeners for The Book of Boba Fett to critics, so this review is based only on the 38-minute premiere that debuted on December 29. That one episode was definitely insufficient in terms of determining if this seven-episode series will be the Boba Fett showcase fans have been clamoring for or an entertaining bit of filler while audiences await the further chronicles of Baby Yoda.

The premiere, written by Jon Favreau and directed by Robert Rodriguez , feels more like filler — or rather more like a chapter in a larger narrative than an actual book of its own.

The Book of Boba Fett , thus far, is doing two things at once, neither with any real urgency.

The pilot opens with Temuera Morrison’s Boba Fett in a healing chamber experiencing flashbacks or dreams tied to the aftermath of what appeared to be his Return of the Jedi death in the gaping maw and phallic tentacles of the sarlacc. That story, like multiple episodes of The Mandalorian including the second season premiere, involves a roll call of Tatooine favorites, including Tusken raiders, banthas, a red Rodian (like Greedo, only, well, red) and more.

Like that second Mandalorian season premiere, this was an opportunity to give some cultural specificity to the nomadic sand people who were introduced as territorial hostiles in Star Wars . And as in that second Mandalorian premiere, the Book of Boba Fett ‘s climax involves the revelation of the giant monsters who lurk under the Tatooine sand — in this case, a many-armed creature whose resemblance to Ray Harryhausen’s Clash of the Titans kraken is, surely, intentional.

That’s the flashback side of the story. In the present, we see Boba Fett taking over Jabba the Hutt’s palace and his crime syndicate, with the help of Ming-Na Wen’s Fennec Shand, a master assassin introduced in The Mandalorian .

There are lots of protocols to be followed in Boba Fett’s new position, but he isn’t interested in being the next Jabba or Bib Fortuna. As he puts it, “Jabba ruled with fear. I intend to rule with respect.” The lack of intimidation, though, may explain why a different group of assassins wants Boba Fett dead or captured, or something.

Presumably, we’re supposed to wonder what adversarial power wants Boba Fett’s reign to be a brief one, but nothing in the premiere offers any reason to actually care about that. Favreau and Rodriguez are playing with Western archetypes, with Boba Fett as one of those quintessentially terse antiheroes living by his own code in a lawless land. If you only have seven episodes to tell a story, it isn’t unreasonable for a viewer to watch the first of those episodes and wonder what Boba Fett’s objective is here — and what cause there would be for anybody to invest in whether or not he succeeds.

Like Din Djarin, Pedro Pascal’s character in The Mandalorian , Boba Fett is a mercenary. But with the introduction of Baby Yoda — if you call him “Grogu,” you’d darned well better have started calling the Staples Center by its “Crypto.com” name immediately — that series gave viewers a point of empathy and a reason to root for its hero’s journey.

If nothing else, Morrison has already gotten to show his face more in one episode than Pascal has in two seasons, and he’s a compelling presence if not a dynamic performer. Paired with Wen’s confident cool, they make a solid central duo. But if all you’re giving me is Boba Fett receiving tributes from local figures and shoring up his clout as daimyo — a feudal Japanese position below shogun and a reminder that the franchise’s DNA is half-samurai, half-Western — I’m going to eventually ask “Why?”

In the short-term, the “Why?” can be answered mostly with nostalgia. The Mandalorian has always worked better for me when the episodes have standalone plots with clear stakes, and even better when the guest stars have real characters to play (see the parts embodied by the likes of Timothy Olyphant and Bill Burr last season). Here, it’s storytelling by checklist. Were you a fan of the porcine bodyguards known as Gamorreans? You’ve got Gamorreans! Want a cantina and a Max Rebo cameo? You’ve got it! And speaking of cameos, yes, that was Matt Berry voicing a robot and Jennifer Beals as the cantina proprietor. And, if you’re like me and you loved Lodge 49 , yes, that was David Pasquesi as a representative for a local politician. Will any of them return? If The Mandalorian is any indication, probably not.

In lieu of establishing a real premise or direction for The Book of Boba Fett , the premiere gives us some breathtaking desert photography from cinematographer David Klein, a fun rooftop chase and one or two fights staged without any memorable choreography. Didn’t Rodriguez used to have more distinctive action flair than this? And shouldn’t the arid milieu let Rodriguez showcase the muscular chops from his Desperado / From Dusk Till Dawn heyday? Anyway, much too much is happening to ever be bored, and all the incidents are tied together by Ludwig Göransson and Joseph Shirley’s music, which contributes to that sensation that this this is a detour within The Mandalorian instead of a story with standalone value.

Though it has won piles of awards, The Mandalorian has always felt primarily like popcorn TV. The Book of Boba Fett ‘s debut episode feels like something more like salt or butter — an appealing accompaniment, if nowhere near substantive enough to be a snack, much less the main course. Will it aspire to anything more than that or just be content as an interlude between Disney+’s tentpole shows in the Marvel and Star Wars universes? We’ll just have to wait and see, I suppose.

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The Book of Boba Fett: Season 1 Reviews

While the series starts strong by leaning on star Temuera Morrison's strong ability and his connection to ingenious storylines, the show ultimately feels more compelled to set up the Star Wars expanded universe then telling a coherent narrative.

Full Review | May 30, 2022

Some simple pleasures transcend questions of good or bad, like watching Boba Fett fight a massive battle droid out of Mass Effect while astride his pet rancor. Or watching a Baby Yoda fling himself at his daddy for a mid-battle hug.

Full Review | Mar 19, 2022

Disney left its content farm out in Tatooines suns for far too long, a wilted mess of a commodity masquerading as a television show. What a sad showing, not just for Star Wars, but for art itself.

Full Review | Feb 25, 2022

This spaceship feels a bit like it's on autopilot.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Feb 24, 2022

The Book of Boba Fett was a series of compounding mistakes. Its best feature was to deliver a Mandalorian sequel that could have been a self-contained film.

Full Review | Feb 23, 2022

The episodes had little to offer. And when they ran out of Fett's past and present, The Book of Boba Fett simply ditched him and switched over to Din Djarin.

Full Review | Feb 22, 2022

The Book of Boba Fett is beyond even an experiment. It should be a bellwether for future writers and producers – because it takes us all for granted.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 18, 2022

Throughout the series we see an unlikely hero promoting justice in a land that doesnt understand the concept, and the show asks us to consider whether its better to rule through fear or respect.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 17, 2022

While I cant say it was as strong as the previous live action Star Wars series that features so heavily here, I can still say it was thoroughly entertaining every week.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 14, 2022

I just binged it, and a pretty great binge it was.

Full Review | Feb 12, 2022

Favreau scattered story crumbs onto the table and expected hungry viewers to squish them together and call it cake... It's a short-term high, but I believe this business is going destroy this franchise expansion if it's replicated in the spinoffs to come.

Full Review | Feb 10, 2022

...the interconnectivity of these Star Wars shows continues to prove that the Disney approach to this wonderfully varied property is to make it all feel the same.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 10, 2022

The spinoff of 'The Mandalorian' had an opportunity to expand what it meant to be a 'Star Wars' story, but it's consistently stopped right at the edge of actual exploration.

Full Review | Jan 29, 2022

Another welcome addition to the "Star Wars" megaverse.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Jan 21, 2022

Let's hope that the dramatic intensity and action scenes grow in the final four installments.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jan 19, 2022

These are essentially pulp stories, and a weekly hour-long series of Boba Fett is a lot of fun because you get to explore his character.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jan 8, 2022

A quick look at the latest episodic STAR WARS show, this one focusing on an iconic bounty hunter newly tasked with running a crime syndicate:

Full Review | Jan 7, 2022

Popular supporting characters don't often make great spin-off leads, but like the equally mysterious Mandalorian, Fett brings a fresh presence to the Star Wars universe.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 5, 2022

It feels like a big-screen story and it's exciting.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Jan 5, 2022

Morrison makes a believable tough guy, but the jury's out on whether he can play the sort of charismatic antihero that the show requires.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 4, 2022

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the book of boba fett reinvents a classic star wars figure.

Everyone’s favorite bounty hunter from the original three “ Star Wars ” films gets his own series, and his own massive redemption arc, in the heavily anticipated new series “The Book of Boba Fett.” We were re-introduced to this character in the last season of “The Mandalorian,” after having gone years without knowing whether the classic bad-ass survived the Sarlacc pit in “The Return of the Jedi.” It was a true thrill to see him again (and made for a great episode by director Robert Rodriguez ); it was even more exciting that the end of “The Mandalorian” introduced a Boba Fett show in which the bounty hunter takes over the throne of previous crime lord Jabba the Hutt.  

With its first episode premiering on Disney+ today—a strong enough tease of what’s to come—“The Book of Boba Fett” seeks to fill in more of the backstory about the bounty hunter, including how he escaped the monstrous pit that swallowed him whole. It juxtaposes these dreams he has with the figure he is now, a gruff gangster with PTSD who rules with few words, and with the help of his partner Fennec Shand ( Ming-Na Wen , who is more and more deserving of her own show).  His ascent is essentially about rising in the "Star Wars" galaxy food chain, going from bounty hunter to Tusken Raider prisoner, and eventually using his chains for a display of power. These flashbacks do not just hint at what happened to him physically, but how they crystallized his concepts of power, and survival. 

As it goes with watching only one episode, always, it’s too early to guess the overall quality, but you can see what one hopes gets more development in later chapters. In particular, Morrison’s character work needs a bit more to it, as the flashbacks and brief scenes of dialogue are more about simply establishing his identity from that of the past. And when he does talk as a ruler—cool, merciful, calculated—it’s not with any curious grandiosity for a new crime lord. It's kind of monotonous. It will be interesting to see how Morrison creates more of an interior sense for this character, just as Pedro Pascal did. But any emotional connection in this episode doesn’t come from his work or line-reading; the flashbacks seem even more like a crutch.  

One other questionable point—the action. Rodriguez had some very inspired fight sequences when he directed certain episodes of “The Mandalorian,” but the collection of brief monster rumbles, traps, and chases here leaves more to be desired. There’s one moment in which Boba Fett, Fennec Shand, and two recently hired Gamorreans are battling dudes who use lighting bolt sticks and shields as their weapons, and it often looks too stagey, too much like a “ Power Rangers ” episode. The pilot does get a little kick soon after when it brings in some parkour for a rooftop chase starring Fennec, but that excitement too also devolves into mild choreography and cinematography. 

What’s most interesting about this series—as intended with its pacing that seems just as gradual as the “Mandalorian” pilot—is how it ponders how effective this former bounty hunter will be in power, with unconventional certain standards: he does not want to rule with fear, and his nobility will not have a pomp and circumstance to it, far different than Jabba the Hutt's style. As we see in each game of words he has while on the throne, it's a clearly dangerous approach to a role that many will try to take advantage of, or simply try to take. It’s his hard-earned inner philosophy, and the stakes that come from honoring it, that I imagine will make this reinvention the most intriguing as we get used to seeing Boba Fett every week.   

First episode screened for review. "The Book of Boba Fett" premieres today on Disney+ and airs weekly.

Nick Allen is the former Senior Editor at RogerEbert.com and a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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The Book Of Boba Fett: Season 1 Review

Streaming on: Disney +

Episodes viewed: 1 of 7

“As you wish.”

“He’s no good to me dead.”

“What if he doesn’t survive?” He’s worth a lot to me.”

“Put Captain Solo in the cargo hold.”

Since his film debut in 1980, a lot of mythological scaffolding has been erected around bounty hunter Boba Fett, a character who, in the original trilogy, speaks four lines (five if you count “arrghhhhhh” in Episode VI ) in a total of eleven scenes. Much of Fett’s appeal is built around his cool look and wicked ambiguity, coalescing to create the most unknowable character in the Star Wars galaxy. After George Lucas began to puncture the enigma in Attack Of The Clones (Get ‘im dad!”), now Jon Favreau , Dave Filoni , Robert Rodriguez (who directs this first episode) peek further behind the olive-green breast plate to sketch both the past and present of the mercenary’s mercenary. The result is a solid, always enjoyable, if slightly unremarkable start.

Whatever you say about The Book Of Boba Fett ’s chapter one — ‘Stranger In A Strange Land’ —Favreau, Filoni and Rodriguez go for it from the off. With Fett submerged in Bacta fluid, we see disturbed memories of his past life; the rain-swept Kamino, the battlefield of Geonosis and a (not particularly satisfactory) answer to the big question that has fascinated Fettishists for years. Most of the flashback picks up Fett as a prisoner of a band of Tusken Raiders, the bounty hunter sharing screen time with a pink Rodian and a particularly rabid watch dog: these Dune Sea sequences involve a lot of wandering around the desert (the word for water in Star Wars is…water), pesky youngling Sand People and a thrilling nod to Ray Harryhausen. What it doesn’t feel is essential.

The result is a solid, always enjoyable, if slightly unremarkable start.

The episode feels more interesting when it moves to the present tense. The showrunners have made no bones that The Book Of Boba Fett owes a h/t (helmet tip) to_ The Godfather _ and, while no-one wakes up with a Bantha head in their bed (yet), the series opener is full of gangster business to make Michael Corleone feel at home. These sequences have fun with the newly minted “Lord” Fett trying to find his feet as a capo , realising he needs a protocol droid when he is holding court, coming to terms with lording it over people he used to work for and debating with Fennec Shand about being carried through the streets like Jabba as a mark of power.

It’s fun stuff. screenwriter Favreau finding a nice line in tough guy talk (“Even when a Tradoshan pays you a compliment, it sounds like a threat”) and early character set-ups show promise; a mayor who sends major-domo to welcome Fett rather than turn up himself (much to Boba’s annoyance), a Twi’lek bar owner ( Jennifer Beals ) who runs a palatial Mos Espa watering hole (it’s a bit All Bar One meets Sanctuary spa). As an episode, the connective tissue is about Fett’s search for respect; in one strand he finds it, in another he is yet to gain it.

As you might expect from director Rodriguez, who has his own lone wolf franchise in the El Mariachi films, the action is strong, a street fight — hello kick-ass Gamorrean guards — and a parkour chase being the pick of a bunch. It also moves along at a fair lick and is visually punchy; Tusken Raiders emerge from sandstorms, POV shots through Fett’s T-visor and a cool suiting up montage plays out to the most bombastic score. As an episode there is nothing to blow you away — no big twists or reveals — but the chemistry between Morrison and Wen is engaging and, it 100% feels like Star Wars . But, as to whether Fett is better to remain a galactic man of mystery, the jury is still out.

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Tatooine is the perfect setting for Book of Boba Fett’s survival epic

Temura Morrison takes the helmet off and shows us the desperate side of Star Wars

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Share All sharing options for: Tatooine is the perfect setting for Book of Boba Fett’s survival epic

Tatooine is a rough place in Star Wars . Not everyone is the type of person who sits in a bar like Mos Eisley , that “wretched hive of scum and villainy,” but even the good and just people of the desert planet would likely admit that the wretched hive has all the power. A planet far away from the concerns of the Imperial and the Rebellion , it doesn’t feel like a place for redemption. It’s ever-present slave trade, moisture farm raids, and criminal overlords seem to just emphasize the matter.

Which is what makes its heroes so beloved. That Luke Skywalker of all people grew up in a place like this, that it molded and shaped him, is part of his appeal. And it’s a large part of Boba Fett’s as well, at least in the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett, “ Stranger in a Strange Land,” which debuted Wednesday on Disney Plus.

There’s a lot on Boba Fett that will feel very familiar to fans of The Mandalorian , which won’t be a surprise to anyone who watched the bounty hunter’s return in that show . The two men are very similar. Neither is prone to speaking much, both would be more than happy just to do their jobs and be left alone. But director Robert Rodriguez and writer Jon Favreau are clear about one difference: this is the gritty western space show where the outlaw guy with a cool helmet takes the helmet off .

And it’s a good thing, too, because to hide away Temura Morrison’s face for too long would be a grave mistake. The New Zealand actor, described in 1995 by Roger Ebert as “a leading actor as elemental, charismatic and brutal as the young Marlon Brando,” is on full display in Boba Fett . Gone is the mysterious allure of Mando, replaced with the pains and tensions of aging made undeniable on a face burned and beaten more times than its owner can count.

Morrison’s magnetism comes from a sense of desperation that seems to occupy Boba Fett at all times. The show starts with a flashback to Fett’s notable ending in the original trilogy, death via Sarlacc pit. But watching Boba’s escape from the belly of the beast doesn’t just feel like adding more details to his Wookiepedia page; it shows the desperation and hunger of a man willing to survive, even if he isn’t exactly sure why.

The sections of “ Stranger” set in these flashbacks are short on conversation and long on Boba Fett getting beaten up. There are Jawas, lizards, and most notably, Tusken Raiders. Morrison is pushed repeatedly to survive, barely allowed to drink water as he’s made part of a two-person chain gang. These scenes clearly have the same reference points as Mandalorian , with the long shots and dramatic scores of Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns.

But while Mandalorian seemed to relish isolation, Boba Fett can’t find a moment to himself. Out of the Sarlacc pit and into the hands of Jawas for old Boba, there’s isn’t much difference. There is the desperation of noir on Boba Fett’s Tatooine, which Guillermo del Toro recently described to the film magazine Little White Lies as “the tragedy that emerges between the haves and the have-nots.”

The next section of “Stranger” concerns Boba Fett’s new reign as a “have.” He’s been named the new head of the Hutt crime syndicate, which is a little like getting into Studio 54 after the last days of disco. There’s some prestige in the title, but things clearly aren’t what they used to be. The mayor, of all people, only sends his majordomo (David Pasquesi) to pay tribute and then ends up demanding tribute from Boba.

Pasquesi once played the ex-husband of Julia Louis-Dreyfuss on Veep , and he clearly has a knack for getting under the skin of powerful people. He infuriates Fett’s second-in-command, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), with his rudeness and diplomacy-is-war-by-other-means attitude. Amidst a collapsing organization, the majordomo’s head appendages feel like a nautral-born jester’s hat, mocking a proud tradition.

There’s some nice comic work in Boba Fett , including Matt Berry as a droid seemingly once loyal to the Hutts. Pasquesi is one of the show’s stand-outs, allowing for a quick repreive from everyone on the show who would shoot first and ask questions later (most people).

Fett doesn’t want to be an extravagant crime boss like any of his slug-like predecessors. He wants to be a crime boss of the people, walking under his own two feet with two green pig-guy bodyguards by his side. He wants to rule with respect, not fear. But the question of if the people and various bosses of Tatooine want such a ruler in the first place is wide open.

While Ming-Na Wen gets some good shots in, Book of Boba Fett is focused on Morrison’s rage, boiling just underneath the surface. It’s hard to tell where any of this will go, but the show seems to content for viewers to understand that first and foremost, this is a man who will not serve a master. Not anymore.

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The Book of Boba Fett (2021–2022)

• User Reviews
• Ludwig Göransson does it again with another iconic piece of music.
• Episode 5 and 6. Which are not about Boba and they're about Mandalorian, a better and more badass bounty hunter. And that's cheating too because they put Mandalorian season 3 episodes in here so people keep watching this show.
• The power ranger gang.
• Boba is not a badass. He slept with Tuskens two nights and now he's a benevolent ruler and wants to rule the city with his soft heart I guess.
• Boba has no strategy in the whole 7 episodes. He just agrees with what others say and can't assert dominance on any one, he's a laughing stock for all the other rulers and commanders in this series.
• Boba is a complete idiot and does some significantly idiotic Baffling things, prominently in episode 4. For example; Boba: "Look at me, I am Boba Fett." Boba 5 minutes later: "There's an advantage to people thinking you're dead."
• The show, apart from episode 5 and 6, doesn't feel like Star Wars at all. It feels likes I'm watching a weird Sci-Fi that ripped off these characters and names from Star Wars and not actually watching Star Wars. You can see the clear contrast of it when you watch episode 5 after the fairly excruciating first 4 episodes. It doesn't feel, look and sound like Star Wars.
• They tried to make a badass character off of Boba and they succeeded beautifully with Mandalorian, but realized they effed up and now that they're making a Boba Fett show, they have to make him different, and thus less badass and that's the reason they ruined Boba Fett.
• Fennec Shand is more of a badass than Boba.
• The Pykes are hyped to be this evil and powerful syndicate that have an army to destroy everyone and take over the city, but they're laughably weak and shorter in numbers than they claimed to be in the finale.
• Cad Bane was wasted and should've been the main adversary from the beginning.
• Boba needs men and more soldiers but in no way he attempts to hire even one person before the big finale.
• Flashbacks should've been shorter and they should've made episode 2 and 1 into 1 first episode and got rid of episode 3 and the power ranger gang entirely.
• The direction and writing of episodes 1,2,3,4 and 7 are abysmal.
• Episode 5 and 6 being actually good and everyone enjoying them shows that even the creators know that nobody wanted this and they didn't even know what to write and do about Boba Fett.
• Lots and lots of plot holes about Boba being the Daimyo.
• There were a of lot better stories to tell, like how Boba actually became the Daimyo, instead of showing us flashbacks and the disappointing Pykes as the main villain.

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The book of boba fett, common sense media reviewers.

Popular bounty hunter shows ethics in pulpy action series.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

Some positive messages about ethics, as Fett tries

Characters show bravery, loyalty, and compassion.

The few human roles here appear to be cast with di

Violent action scenes occur throughout, including

Star Wars universe thrives on merchandising tie-in

Background characters may sometimes be seen drinki

Parents need to know that The Book of Boba Fett is an action series set in the Star Wars universe and centered on one of its most popular characters. Boba Fett, played by Temuera Morrison ( Moana , The Mandalorian ), is a former bounty hunter and aspiring Tatooine crime boss who lives by a…

Positive Messages

Some positive messages about ethics, as Fett tries to navigate a criminal profession while also making moral choices (no torture, no killing, etc.).

Positive Role Models

Diverse representations.

The few human roles here appear to be cast with diversity in mind. Star Wars universe has a dicey history, with characters that seem to represent ethnic stereotypes, and how the creators treat characters and actors of color. But both leads in this series are from diverse backgrounds (Ming-Na Wen is of Chinese descent, Morrison is part Maori). It's also notable that both characters are not young but have adventures and show that older people can still kick butt, a rarity in Hollywood.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

Violent action scenes occur throughout, including martial arts sequences, gunfights, and the killing of animal-like creatures.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Star Wars universe thrives on merchandising tie-ins, of course, but no other consumerism is featured.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Background characters may sometimes be seen drinking alcohol-type beverages.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Book of Boba Fett is an action series set in the Star Wars universe and centered on one of its most popular characters. Boba Fett, played by Temuera Morrison ( Moana , The Mandalorian ), is a former bounty hunter and aspiring Tatooine crime boss who lives by a moral code that involves violence only when necessary. It proves necessary often enough in the show, however; expect action sequences involving martial arts and guns throughout the series. That's really the only content of concern, however, and the show's diverse characters show bravery, loyalty, and compassion.

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (11)
• Kids say (26)

Based on 11 parent reviews

Not missing much

If you like boba fett or the mandolorian you will like this show, what's the story.

The Book of Boba Fett finds everyone's favorite bounty hunter (Temuera Morrison) trying to establish himself as a new crime boss in one of Jabba the Hutt's former territories on Tattooine. Alongside his partner in crime, Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), Fett must navigate the tricky city politics while dealing with a hostile mayor, nefarious business owners, and dozens of trained assassins, all while being haunted by recurring dreams of torture and imprisonment.

Is It Any Good?

Popular supporting characters don't often make great spin-off leads, but like the equally mysterious Mandalorian, Fett brings a fresh presence to the Star Wars universe. This series has the intimidating task of building a story around another character whose legend thrives in spite of (or because of) how little audiences actually know about him. Thankfully, The Book of Boba Fett avoids fleshing out Fett too much, outside of establishing his moral code and career aspirations. Instead, the focus is on the pulpy action and Tatooine's underworld dynamics. Fett becomes an Indiana Jones type, albeit one with somewhat less-honorable intentions, stepping from one sequence to the next as the challenges and surprises escalate. Overall, the show feels like a pulpy action-adventure show with monsters, fight scenes, and simple special effects, like a contemporary version of something like Clash of the Titans or Xena, Warrior Princess -- in a good way.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about Boba Fett's new vocation. Why does Fett become a crime lord? What rules does he seem to live by? How do these rules help him or hurt him?

What are some of the power struggles that Fett has in his new position? How does he deal with them? How do his dreams play into this?

What parts of The Book of Boba Fett seem built for Star Wars fans? Does the series still work for people who are unfamiliar with the Star Wars universe? Why, or why not?

• Premiere date : December 29, 2021
• Cast : Temuera Morrison , Ming-Na Wen
• Network : Disney+
• Genre : Action
• Topics : Sports and Martial Arts , Adventures , Robots , Space and Aliens
• TV rating : TV-14
• Award : Common Sense Selection
• Last updated : February 18, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett

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‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ episode two recap: a trippy ride through the psychedelic desert

**Spoilers for 'The Book Of Boba Fett' episode two below**

“T ricky little bugger,” says Boba (Temuera Morrison), as a hallucinogenic lizard is blown up his nose – a wonderfully weird detour in the middle of a backstory that’s dreamt up halfway through the main plot. Two episodes in, The Book Of Boba Fett is laying the groundwork for two different shows at the same time, giving us a western desert epic and a shrewd little gangster drama in one.

Last week saw Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) catching up with a masked ninja on the rooftops of Mos Espa, and now we see the captured Night Wind assassin dragged in front of Boba. Finally naming names when he’s threatened with being eaten by the palace pet (bring back the rancor you cowards), the assassin says he was sent by mayor Mok Shaiz, which we all sort of suspected anyway.

Dragging the goon to town, Boba and Fennec confront the mayor (an Ithorian, aka “a hammerhead”) who denies everything, conveniently killing the assassin and suggesting the pair start asking questions in The Sanctuary club instead. When they get there, Garsa Fwip (Jennifer Beals) pretends she doesn’t know anything either, just in time for the third (and fourth) culprit to turn up.

Led in by a war drum, and carried by some of the most thankless servants in the galaxy, The Book Of Boba Fett reintroduces the Hutts to the Star Wars universe as “the twins” roll down the street – getting the best entrance of the series so far. As gross as Jabba was in Return Of The Jedi , his cousins are worse. Mopping his sweaty jelly brow with a live rat, twin number one (no names yet…) tells Boba that the throne rightfully belongs to him and his sister, back now to claim the family inheritance of the Hutt crime empire. Threatening him with an evil Wookiee henchman, the pair decide to back down (for now) and slither off back down the street to join the list of enemies now stacked against Boba.

At this point, you have to wonder why Boba even wants to be a gangster. He might have retired from bounty hunting but it seems like there are easier ways of making money than running a crime ring on a planet where everyone hates him. Clearly, something is driving him, and as he settles back down into his water bath/bed for the night, the show picks up his backstory where we left it last week – fresh out of the belly of the Sarlacc, still in his PJs, now running with the Tusken raiders.

Recommended

The second half of episode two sees Boba learning the ways of the desert – part Dune , part Lawrence Of Arabia , part Sons Of Anarchy as he robs a biker bar, steals a load of speeders and leads a full on train robbery in what already seems like a classic Star Wars set piece. Director Steph Green ( Watchmen ) does a great job with the action here, but the training montage works just as well, as Boba teaches the Tuskens how to ride (“this makes it go, this makes it stop”) and gains enough trust to get given the weird lizard nose thing as a gift.

Finding himself a tree branch somewhere in the middle of his acid trip, Boba returns to the tribe to swap his dirty undies for clean desert robes and to carve his own gaderffii stick, ending the show with a nice little dance number around the campfire. Still a long way from Mos Espa, and still without his armour, there’s a lot of backstory left to fill here before we catch up with the turf war playing out in Boba’s main thread. Now faced with fending off the mayor, the local club syndicate and the Hutts all at the same time, it looks like he has his work cut out for him in both halves of the story.

Under the helmet

• Matt Berry returns again to voice 8D8 in Boba’s palace, but the character was first seen in Return Of The Jedi as Jabba’s chief droid torturer.
• Robert Rodriguez voices Mayor Mok Shaiz, making the role his second in the series after last week’s cameo as Trandoshan leader Dokk Strassi.
• The episode gives us another very brief flashback to Kamino, and to Boba’s first appearance in Attack Of The Clones .

‘The Book Of Boba Fett’ releases new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+

• Related Topics
• The Book Of Boba Fett

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Every Live-Action ‘Star Wars’ Show Ranked

The franchise’s live-action TV history has been a journey of peaks and valleys

To love Star Wars is to know pain.

No matter if you happen to be an original trilogy purist, part of the rising throng proclaiming the prequel trilogy to be the pinnacle of the franchise, or the brave and unwise few who still stand on the battlefield over whether “The Last Jedi” is the best of the series or the absolute worst, most everyone can agree the franchise is flawed and uneven.

When the movies and shows are great, few things compare. But when they’re bad it can be tough to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The “Star Wars” franchise is a journey of peaks and valleys and that’s most clear when looking at its live-action TV offerings.

Even when it’s bad, I love “Star Wars” and being in that world — whether the characters are driving me insane or bringing a smile to my face. That said, here’s how every “Star Wars” live-action show ranked from worst to best.

6. “The Book of Boba Fett”

Spinning out of the acclaimed second season of “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett” was the first real dud for Star Wars content on Disney+. The show had a very herky-jerky nature to it as it bounced from present-day Boba (Temuera Morrison) and Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) tried to get a foothold in Mos Eisley, and flashbacks to how Boba survived his encounter with the Sarlacc everyone thought killed him in “Return of the Jedi.”

Neither past Boba’s time with the Tusken Raiders nor present Boba’s hunt for power in Mos Eisley are given the time they need to make viewers care. Couple that with many low-budget and ultimately memeable moments (the 5 MPH scooter chase will stay with me until my dying days) and less-than-stellar dialogue cemented the show’s fate. When the best part of a series is the two episodes where the titular character either is barely featured or never shows up once, it’s usually not a great sign.

Silver lining: seeing live-action Cad Bane was a thrill for me and me alone.

5. “Obi-Wan Kenobi”

Disney really wanted (and realy needed) “Obi-Wan Kenobi” to do well. All the pieces seemed to be there: Ewan McGregor was back as Obi-Wan, Hayden Christensen also returned as Darth Vader, giving him more than a blink-and -you’ll-miss-it moment in the iconic suit. All of it steered by director Deborah Chow who had already put out two fan-favorite episodes of “The Mandalorian.” The pieces were in place.

And the show landed with a resounding thud.

When the show wasn’t downright dull or placing a ton of focus on the baffling choice to include Princess Leia as a child (Vivien Lyra Blair), it was pulling its best moments wholesale from storylines that happened in the animated series years before. The final battle between Obi-Wan and Darth Vader – down to Vader’s mask being damaged and Anakin’s eye being visible beneath – is a lesser recreation of Ahsoka and Vader’s first reunion in the Season 2 finale of “Star Wars: Rebels.” Attempts to bring in elements of the animated series to live-action can be pulled of (see: Ahsoka) but “Obi-Wan Kenobi” proved some characters should be left in cartoon form – looking at you Grand Inquisitor/Rupert Friend.

The show also brought out the incredibly toxic elements of the fandom again – a toxicity that has only grown in the Disney era. Actress Moses Ingram received relentless undeserved attacks online when the show debuted that the hate earned more headlines than the show itself. That alone is enough to leave a sour taste on any potential rewatches.

4. “The Acolyte”

It’s still very early days for “The Acolyte” but so far the series is a fun and ultimately engaging look at a period of “Star Wars” history that many have never experienced. The show takes place in the High Republic era – hundreds of years before the name Skywalker will be said – and depicts both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order at the height of their power and influence. The story follows a Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) and a team – including a former Padawan (Amandla Stenberg) – tasked with investigating a string of murdered Jedi across the galaxy.

“The Acolyte” still has a fair share of clunky dialogue the live-action shows have unfortunately become known for, but the smaller scope of the series and the mystery do it more favors than the “galaxy threatened” scope the franchise usually features. The show’s choice to forego shooting in the Volume and instead film on practical sets and locations provides a tactile nature than many of the Disney+ shows lack.

3. “Ahsoka”

It’s nothing new to say that Ahsoka is Dave Filoni’s favorite character (he created her after all), but that love really shines through in her live-action series. The story of “Ahsoka” picks up – for better and worse – primarily after the events of the animated series “Star Wars: Rebels” with the hunt for Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi) and Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen). For better because “Star Wars: Rebels” remains the single best Disney-era entry into the franchise, and for worse because not all elements of the animated series translate to live-action.

But when it works, it works. Rosario Dawson is unsurprisingly great as Ahsoka – a fact we already knew through her appearances in “The Mandalorian” and “Book of Boba Fett.” Esfandi brings Ezra’s charm to life while also adding a maturity that being lost in space for years would no doubt create. The real jewel of the season came in the form of the late Ray Stevenson’s Baylan Skoll. He and Ahsoka are very much reflections of their paths not taken and whether they were crossing blades or comparing philosophies, the show was rarely better than when Dawson and Stevenson shared the screen.

2. “The Mandalorian”

Disney+ struck pay dirt right out of the gate when “The Mandalorian” debuted shortly after the launch of the streaming service in 2019. Few enjoyed a more meteoric rise to cultural stardom than Grogu – then known by the much more adorable Baby Yoda. But on top of Baby Yoda love, the show was good! It brought a spaghetti western sensibility to a galaxy far, far away along with an unexpected but not unwelcome blend of serialized and procedural storytelling.

Then Season 2 came out and it got better! Ahsoka appeared in live-action for the first time, planting the seeds for her own series. Boba Fett returned from the dead. And that Season 2 finale with Luke Skywalker getting his own “hallway fight” to rival his dad’s had fans buzzing for what was to come.

Season 3 was less than stellar as it got a bit lost in the minutiae of Mandalorian customs, and the immediate take-back of Grogu from his training with Luke left more than a few “what was the point of all this?” thoughts percolating. But even a lesser season still included plenty of thrilling moments, and the OG stands as the second best show.

The good shows on this list are examples of Star Wars done right. “Andor” is a great show regardless of the Star Wars moniker. The Tony Gilroy-steered and Diego Luna-starring series really came out of nowhere in 2022. People expected the show to be good – Luna and Gilroy teamed up to great effect in “Rogue One” – but the results were one of the best “Star Wars” stories ever told.

Set five years before the events of “Rogue One,” the series shows how Cassian Andor (Luna) first fell into the Rebellion. Along the way we also see the machinations of the Empire and the lackeys it was prepared to bury to wrest even more control of the galaxy.

“Star Wars” creator George Lucas has always insisted that the franchise should be made with kids in mind. Gilroy definitely said “no” and put together a show that is decidedly adult and deeply serious, tackling socio-political issues as it chronicles the literal origin story of a rebel — Andor goes from uninterested bystander to devout believer over the course of the first season.

The show’s choice to zoom in on the regular folks of the galaxy and see how the Empire affects their day-to-day lives was a brilliant one, resulting in an exhilarating and harrowing story from start to finish.

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After ‘The Acolyte,’ Star Wars Needs to Stop Killing Off Its Coolest Characters

“The Acolyte” continues this long-running and obnoxious tradition, for the worse.

Lauren Morgan

Freelance Writer

Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast/LucasFilms

The opening scenes of Disney+’s new Star Wars series , The Acolyte , demonstrated exactly why iconic The Matrix actress Carrie-Anne Moss was simply born to be a Jedi. With calm ease as Jedi Master Indara, she parries Dark Side assassin Mae’s (Amandla Stenberg) repeated attacks with some of the same moves she deployed as Trinity in the four Matrix films. The casting is almost too perfect, and Moss seems destined to join the leagues of iconic Jedi characters as the series continued.

So it was all the more frustrating to see Indara get a dagger to the heart before the credits even rolled. She was another in a long line of cool Star Wars characters who got killed way too soon.

THE ACOLYTE

Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Mae (Amandla Stenberg) in Lucasfilm's 'The Acolyte'

Christian Black/Disney+

Star Wars has never been afraid of killing characters for an emotional gut punch. From the moment Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) discovered poor Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen burnt to a crisp on the smoking sands of Tatooine to Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) watching her entire planet immolated by the Death Star, the franchise established that the battle between good and evil would cause casualties. In fact, some of its most memorable moments come from surprising deaths, like the entire crew of Rogue One sacrificing themselves on the shores of Scarif to get the Death Star plans to the Rebellion, or Darth Vader essentially electrocuting himself to rescue his son from Emperor Palpatine’s Force lightning attack in Return of the Jedi .

But as much as these deaths can lend an emotional gravity to the galaxy far, far away, sometimes these shocking deaths are, well, a little annoying. That’s especially true when they happen to a character who seems like their story is just getting started, like The Acolyte ’s Master Indara. Star Wars is littered with promising characters—good, evil, and a little bit in between—whose deaths might be shocking in the moment, but tend to leave a big story hole once they are dead.

One of the greatest examples of Star Wars pulling the trigger on a character too early is Darth Maul’s death at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) in The Phantom Menace . Following Darth Vader as a villain is a pretty daunting task, but as soon as Darth Maul ignited his duel-bladed lightsaber in the film’s trailer , it seemed like Lucasfilm had hit the villain jackpot once again. Martial artist Ray Park made Maul into a unique adversary for the Jedi and his duel against Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is considered by fans to be one of the finest lightsaber battles in Star Wars history. So it was truly shocking when he got sliced in half and left for dead at the end of that film. And, unfortunately, it left a big villain-shaped hole in the following prequel film, Attack of the Clones .

Darth Maul faces Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi in ‘Star Wars: Phantom Menace'

George Lucas tried to replace Maul by adding Count Dooku, a former Jedi Master turned Dark Side apprentice who oddly seemed to be decades older than the Sith Master he served. Despite being played by effortlessly cool horror legend Christopher Lee, the unfortunately named Dooku didn’t have quite the same pop culture impact that Maul had. He wasn’t quite a figure who would make Halloween costumes and lunch boxes fly off the shelves.

Lucasfilm seemed to realize their mistake in killing Maul off too early. Years later, it brought him back to life during the animated series The Clone Wars , which ran from 2008-2020. How did they do that? It’s complicated—it involved mechanical spider legs—but he lasted through several seasons and into Star Wars Rebels as well. Sam Witwer’s rich vocal performance as Maul proved why the chaotic and charismatic Dark Sider should have never been killed in the first place.

Maul’s resurrection also set a bad precedent for Lucasfilm, which has revived more than one character from the dead after they proved popular with audiences. Boba Fett emerged from the Sarlacc pit to star in Season 2 of The Mandalorian and his own spin-off The Book of Boba Fett , and former Dark Side assassin Asajj Ventress popped up on the final season of The Bad Batch after her seeming demise in the 2016 Dark Disciple novel. This trick can only be pulled so many times before an audience starts to doubt whether any death will really stick, and it reached its nadir with Chewbacca’s fake-out death in The Rise of Skywalker .

As annoying as these resurrections can be, Star Wars really should stop killing characters off too early in the first place. Besides Maul, another animated villain that got the short shift in live action was notorious bounty hunter Cad Bane, who bedeviled the Jedi throughout the Clone Wars series. When he appeared in The Book of Boba Fett , it seemed like he would have a similarly large career facing off against the various forces in the Mando-verse. But he was killed after only a few episodes by his former protege, Fett. While it might have made sense for Fett to put that part of his past to bed by killing his bounty-hunting mentor, it seemed like an awful waste to bring Cad Bane over to live action, only to kill him so soon. He should have been able to maraud around for a season or two of The Mandalorian before meeting his death.

While Lucasfilm might rather forget it ever made 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, the film is chock full of characters who died right as they were getting intriguing. Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s revolutionary-minded droid L3-37 got stuck as the brains of the Millennium Falcon, while lively criminals Tobias (Woody Harrelson) and Val (Thandiwe Newton) bit it before the credits rolled. While a character’s death can provide shock and plot momentum, those three drained the film of much-needed energy and wit.

And while Kylo Ren’s (Adam Driver) sneak attack on Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) in The Last Jedi was a real “Holy shit!” moment in the theater, it paved the way for the inexplicable return of Emperor Palpatine in The Rise of Skywalker —and the less we dwell on that, the better.

Kylo Ren in 'Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker'

But perhaps the most controversial too-soon Star Wars death of recent years has been that of Kylo himself, who died shortly after returning to the Light Side as Ben Solo. While he nobly sacrificed his life force to save Rey (Daisy Ridley), he got one quick kiss and nary a Force Ghost for his trouble. The Rise of Skywalker committed many sins (see above), but killing the last biological Skywalker as part of the culmination of the nine-picture Skywalker saga might have been the most depressing decision of all. Considering how Driver’s career has taken off, it may have made more sense to keep his popular character around for the Rey-led sequel to come.

Back to The Acolyte : While Lee Jung-Jae and Amandla Stenberg are charismatic as hell as the show’s true leads, and the trailers make it clear that Master Indara might be seen again in a flashback capacity, it’s still a bit of a bummer that Carrie-Ann Moss’s character will have such a limited time on the show. While the mystery around her murder drives the plot, one wishes the show sacrificed a slightly less cool Jedi for the task.

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Luke Skywalker and Grogu collectible statue from Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett unveiled

October 31, 2022 by Amie Cranswick

Mirroring Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back , The Mandalorian’s Grogu embarked on training in the ways of the force at the hands of Jedi Master Luke Skywalker in Lucasfilm’s Disney+ series Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett ., and Iron Studios is bringing that moment to life with the Art Scale 1:10 Luke Skywalker and Grogu collectible statue. Take a look at the official promotional images here…

“ The Book of Boba Fett  finds legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett and mercenary Fennec Shand navigating the galaxy’s underworld when they return to the sands of Tatooine to stake their claim on the territory once ruled by Jabba the Hutt and his crime syndicate.

Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett is available to stream on Disney+ and features a cast that includes Temuera Morrison as Boba Fett and Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand alongside Matt Berry, David Pasquesi, Jennifer Beals, Stephen Root, Sophie Thatcher, Jordan Bolger, Stephen Root, Danny Trejo, Pedro Pascal, Rosario Dawson, Amy Sedaris and Emily Swallow.

About Amie Cranswick

Amie Cranswick has been part of Flickering Myth’s editorial and management team for over a decade. She has a background in publishing and copyediting and has served as Editor-in-Chief of FlickeringMyth.com since 2023.

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‘The Acolyte’ review: Latest live-action ‘Star Wars’ is no ‘Mandalorian’

For the setting of its latest “Star Wars” series, Disney+ dips back 100 years before the start of The Skywalker Saga in “The Phantom Menace” and partners with a “Star Wars” newcomer, writer/director Leslye Headland, best known as co-creator of Netflix’s “Russian Doll.”

Bringing in someone new gives hope “The Acolyte” could avoid “The Book of Boba Fett’s” hodgepodge malaise or “Obi-Wan Kenobi’s” fan-fiction and instead deliver a series closer to “Andor,” the best, most nuanced and adult “Star Wars” show to date, albeit not the most popular (that’s still the entertaining crowd-pleaser “The Mandalorian”).

Alas, “The Acolyte,” now streaming its first two episodes (weekly episodes follow on Tuesdays through July 16), fails to elevate the franchise even as it tries to differentiate itself with a story that’s part murder mystery and part family saga with a matriarchal twist.

Jedi Master Sol (Lee Jung-jae) discovers a Padawan from his past, Osha (Amandla Stenberg), may be responsible for a Jedi murder spree. (Getting too deep into plot details risks spoilers.)

Carrie-Anne Moss of “The Matrix” makes for an ideal veteran Jedi, but in its first misstep, “The Acolyte” squanders that opportunity right out of the gate, setting viewers up for disappointment.

“The Acolyte” shuns blasters for hand-to-hand combat and lightsaber battles but producers make some odd choices: From a spacewalk in a spacesuit to uniform-like Jedi tunics to cheap-looking planet exteriors, this is the first “Star Wars” series to give off a “Star Trek: The Next Generation” vibe. (One character also resembles a Minbari from “Babylon 5.”)

It doesn’t help that the show’s momentum can be slow, with too many dull exposition pitstops even as episodes clock in at a light 32 to 42 minutes.

“The Acolyte” marks the first live-action “Star Wars” story set during the peaceful High Republic Era previously chronicled in comics and books, but the show gives almost no glimpses of High Republic society in the first four episodes (of eight) made available for review, a significant missed opportunity.

While Stenberg handles the heavy lifting required to tell her portion of “The Acolyte” story, the show’s MVP is actor Manny Jacinto (Jason Mendoza on “The Good Place”), who plays a good-natured, stringy-haired scoundrel in over his head. While most other characters are perpetually grim-faced with worry, Jacinto’s Qimir is a rare “Acolyte” character who seems to be having fun.

The third episode of “The Acolyte” offers a necessary flashback that fills in a lot of blanks and introduces Osha’s two mothers, including one played by Jodie Turner-Smith. Yes, this “Star Wars” has already generated controversy from those who object to “wokeness” in media. It’s not just the lesbian moms but also the focus on the shirtless, ripped Jedi Knight Yord (Charlie Barnett, “Russian Doll”). But after Princess Leia’s bikini in “Return of the Jedi,” it certainly seems like turnabout is fair play.

Headland explores themes of duality (light side/dark side; families divided by opposing belief systems) with little subtext as the conversations between characters spell everything out in the most concrete terms.

“Andor,” like “The Acolyte,” also started slowly and gained narrative momentum. The fourth episode of “The Acolyte” ends on a cliffhanger that promises a big reveal to come, always a smart trick for keeping viewers hooked. But “Andor” felt and looked like a “Star Wars” story through and through even in its less exciting early episodes. “The Acolyte” veers more toward generic sci-fi set in any old galaxy far, far away or even one relatively close, close nearby.

The first two episodes are now streaming on Disney+, with new episodes dropping every Tuesday until July 16.

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The Acolyte Review-Bombed On Rotten Tomatoes & Metacritic

• The Acolyte faces backlash from divided Star Wars fandom, with review bombing affecting ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic.
• Showrunner Leslye Headland has proved particularly controversial.
• Review bombing drowns out any legitimate criticisms, harming constructive feedback.

In spite of a favorable response from critics, The Acolyte is currently being review-bombed on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic. The Disney era of Star Wars has hardly been an uncontroversial one, with the fandom dividing in the aftermath of Star Wars: The Last Jedi . Those divisions remain to this day, as has been proven with The Acolyte . Showrunner Leslye Headland has proved especially controversial , and there's been a vocal backlash against the Star Wars TV show from certain parts of the fandom.

This has continued with the release of The Acolyte premiere on Disney+. At time of writing, The Acolyte has an audience score of just 32 percent on Rotten Tomatoes , while the show has a user score of 4.1 on Metacritic . Looking at the actual reviews, there's evidence of a review bombing campaign; many appear to be AI-generated, consisting only of basic plot synopses. A surprising number of half-star reviews on Rotten Tomatoes are from brand-new accounts, another indicator of a review-bombing campaign.

Star Wars: The Acolyte Episode Guide

Here's everything you need to follow along with Star Wars: The Acolyte, from references and trivia to main takeaways from each new episode.

What's Going On With The Acolyte?

The Star Wars fandom has always been a divided and divisive one , but it's become worse over the last few years, with a portion objecting to what they perceive as "wokeness" in the Disney era. This even resulted in a South Park parody of Star Wars , declaring that everything was the fault of Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy. The Acolyte is headed by a lesbian showrunner, and stars female and Asian leads, meaning it was always going to be controversial with this part of the fandom.

The campaign against The Acolyte has hardly been in good faith, with many quotes pulled out of context on social media. When star Dafne Keen discussed the ambition to produce fight choreography as good as that of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace , it was seen as an insult to the prequels rather than proof of how highly they were held by the creative team. Kennedy and Headland addressed The Acolyte backlash ahead of their show's release, calling out what they perceive as racism and sexism.

It's important to note there are probably genuine criticisms amid the review bombing, drowned out by the campaign. Some critics have called out pacing and dialogue problems, and those could well pose a problem to members of the audience as well, resulting in negative reviews. Ironically, the review bombing campaign means real dissatisfaction is impossible to evaluate , while those who loved The Acolyte wind up on the defensive. It's a self-defeating strategy, because it makes it easier to tune out any criticism as part of the campaign.

How Do Star Wars TV Shows Typically Fare On Rotten Tomatoes?

It's not unusual to see disagreement between Rotten Tomatoes' critics and audience scores. In fact, that's quite normal for Star Wars ; but what is remarkable here, and indicative of review bombing, is the sheer scale of the difference.

As can be seen, the critics scores do tend to be more generous than the audience - with the most notable example being Obi-Wan Kenobi . But the difference with The Acolyte is simply too large to be natural; a jump from 93% critic score to 32% audience score. Incredibly, that audience score suggests The Acolyte is less popular than The Book of Boba Fett , Lucasfilm's biggest failure in the Disney+ era.

The interesting question is whether this review bombing technique works. It's used a little too frequently, and there's no verification system to prove a review actually watched the show (indeed, some of the AI-generated comments on The Acolyte may indicate bot activity of some kind). The studios are aware of this technique, and the comments from Kennedy ahead of The Acolyte 's release probably mean the audience scores will be discounted when deciding whether to renew the show. All in all, review bombing is probably a waste of time - an act " full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. "

The Acolyte episodes 1 and 2 are streaming now on Disney+.

The Acolyte

Cast Lee Jung-jae, Amandla Stenberg, Carrie-Anne Moss, Dafne Keen, Jodie Turner-Smith, Dean-Charles Chapman, Joonas Suotamo, Charlie Barnett, Margarita Levieva

Streaming Service(s) Disney+

Writers Charmaine De Grate, Kor Adana, Leslye Headland

Directors Leslye Headland, Alex Garcia Lopez

Showrunner Leslye Headland

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‘good one’ rising star lily collias is ready to take on the world, breaking news.

Patton Oswalt’s ‘Parks And Recreation’ Rant Was Copied By Disney’s ‘Book Of Boba Fett’

By Bruce Haring

Bruce Haring

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Patton Oswalt saw the future. Or, at least his Parks and Recreation character did.

Speaking during a visit on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this week, Oswalt recalled a 2013 episode where he played an angry Pawnee resident who engages in a filibuster. The rambling speech morphs into a pitch of his idea for a Marvel and Star Wars crossover film.

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Oswalt did his best to keep it going.

“[Marvel] had not done Guardians of the Galaxy. When I say Time Gem [one of the Infinity Stones], they cut to Chris Pratt. This was way before he did Guardians, ” Oswalt explained. “Also, Amy has the funniest line in the whole thing when she says the female part’s a little underwritten, which was so exactly what those movies were.”

Pratt became the star of Guardians of the Galaxy as Star-Lord, and his character would go on to find one of the Infinity Stones that Oswalt mentions in the 2014 film. Star-Lord would also fight against Thanos in 2018’s Avengers : Infinity War and 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.

At least one listener found some merit in the Oswalt speech.

“When The Book of Boba Fett came on [Disney+], [creator] Jon Favreau confirmed this for me, they cut the opening shot to match my filibuster,” he said. “You can sync them up time-wise… [it] pans down from the twin suns, the hand comes out of the sand, you can match it up to my filibuster. They did that on purpose.”

Oswalt previously noted that connection in a 2021 tweet, sharing a video of the two scenes. “To say I’m touched is putting it lightly,” he wrote at the time. “And yeah, #BookofBobaFett ROCKS. YOU’RE WELCOME.”

Watch the interview above.

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