Home TV News Boba Fett Meets Mando: Favreau and Filoni Do It Again

Boba Fett Meets Mando: Favreau and Filoni Do It Again

by Jason Smith

Boba Fett Meets Mando: Favreau and Filoni Do It Again

Disney+ played to its Star Wars fan base in early 2022 with the release of The Book of Boba Fett. What started out as a seemingly mundane story explaining how the legendary bounty hunter survived the gastrointestinal system of a rather large and hungry sarlacc became quite compelling when producers John Favreau and Dave Filoni brought in Mando.

Wow!

I admit that I didn’t see that coming. I am a big Mando fan, and I have spent the better part of the last year wondering where on earth Favreau and Filoni are going to go for season three. Now I think I have a pretty good idea. Thanks to the creative genius of the Star Wars dynamic duo entrusted as caretakers of the franchise, Mando and Grogu have a reason to keep travelling together.

Do We Need Another Story?

Admittedly, Star Wars can be an acquired taste for some people. But it’s really hard to not get hooked once you start looking past the sometimes-lacklustre surfaces of the original three films. A New Hope was pretty good, especially for its time. The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, not so much.

Overall, the nine main episodes of the Star Wars story are imaginative, entertaining, and well worth watching. So do we need another story? Was it necessary to make The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandolorian, Bad Batch, et al? Do we really need separate stories about Obi-Wan and Ahsoka? Yes, and I’ll tell you why.

Lucas Opened the Can

We probably could have lived without all the extra stories if George Lucas had made the first three films and quit. They were self-contained enough to entertain us without too many questions. But Lucas opened a can of worms with Episodes I, II, and III. That can of worms gave birth to The Clone Wars.

Hard-core Star Wars fans wanted to know how the Anakin Skywalker of Episode II became the Anakin Skywalker of Episode III. Dave Filoni decided the best way to answer that question was to tell a new story about the war that erupted at the close of Attack of the Clones. And with that decision, he set in motion the need to keep telling new stories to answer all the questions fans keep coming up with.

Past, Present, and Future

One of things we Star Wars fans love so much about the franchise is its attention to the past, present, and future simultaneously. I have seen other film franchises that only exist in the present. Like so many UK bulk SMS providers constantly sending messages back and forth, the creators of said franchises generate a lot of mental traffic in the here and now. But they don’t connect those dots to the past or future. Star Wars does.

The Book of Boba Fett explains why and how Tatooine’s Tuken Raiders became the monsters they were portrayed as in the first and second film trilogies. Casual viewers probably don’t care. Rabid Star Wars fans do. We know that cultures don’t exist in isolation. They become what they are after being influenced by events of the past. Likewise, the events of the here and now play a role in what they become in the future.

Star Wars creators and writers also have a bad habit of leaving things hanging. At the end of season two of The Mandalorian, we were all left wondering what would happen to the little green guy. Without Grogu, there is no Mando story to tell beyond that final episode.

Bringing Luke Skywalker into the mix allowed Favreau and Filoni an opportunity to bring Mando and Grogu into The Book of Boba Fett, along with Ahsoka Tano. But they didn’t do that just for the momentary value it added to Fett’s story. The also set the stage for the Ahsoka spin-off and Mando’s third season.

More Like Life Than Film

Here is the way I see it: with some of the hard-to-swallow premises aside, Star Wars is more like real life than film. Think about it. Most feature films and TV shows are guilty of the ‘happily ever after’ ending. Everything is nicely wrapped up before the final credits. Favreau and Filoni don’t do that with Star Wars. Lucas only did it once, with his very first film.

Look back on your own life. If you were honest with yourself, you would see your own can of worms. Every event from your past has in some way contributed to your present. Every person you have ever interacted with has been affected by you. Your stories are woven together like all the Star Wars characters we all love.

Going one step further, turning your life into a film franchise would offer just as many stories to tell. They probably wouldn’t be as exciting as Luke Skywalker’s story, or even Boba Fett’s, but the volume would still be there. And it is because all our stores are so intertwined from beginning to end.

A Western from Another Universe

Even if you are not a fan of intricate storytelling and endless backstories, it’s hard to argue that every Star Wars series and film is a whole lot of fun to watch. You essentially have a classic Western being told a slightly different way by setting it in an alternate universe.

Whether it is a Main Street shoot-out in Freetown or the classic bar scene from Episode IV, all the elements are there. That is the way Lucas meant it to be. Thankfully, Favreau and Filoni have stayed true to Lucas’ original vision. I know some people don’t like the work they’ve done to this point, but I think they have taken good care of the franchise.

I am looking forward to the upcoming Ahsoka and Obi-Wan Kenobi stories. If they are as much fun as The Book of Boba Fett and Mando, I will be more than satisfied. Few entertainment franchises have even come close to achieving what the creators of Star Wars have achieved. Maybe no one will care a hundred years from now. But for many of us still alive and kicking today, every new Star Wars story is something to get excited about.

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