[SPOILER ALERT! This article contains spoilers for the fifth episode of The Mandalorian, “The Gunslinger”, so proceed with caution!]
It’s probably something that many saw coming, but it’s almost with certainty that a very beloved bounty hunter will be making a return to the galaxy – if the ending of The Mandalorian‘s fifth episode is anything to go by.
Here’s a hint: He shares the first part of his name with a particular drink (or tea, if you will), and has the second half of it rhyme with the word ‘let’. Yes, the figure that approached the still body of Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) at the end of “The Gunslinger” is likely to be who you’re thinking about.
The fearless Boba Fett, that is.
It’s not a surprise, not really. The first giveaway comes in the form of the spurs, which remains a unique feature of Boba Fett’s costume. After all, his appearance in The Empire Strikes Back was always accompanied by the ching ching ching sounds of his spurs, designed specifically in line with the team’s wish for the character to be “the Clint Eastwood of outer space”. Surely the title, “The Gunslinger”, is not a coincidence as well.
Tatooine is the next clue. In Return of the Jedi, this marks the Sarlacc pit that the bounty hunter fell into while Luke Skywalker was rescuing his own friends from Jabba the Hutt. Ah, the good ol’ days.
The next hint is more of a wild observation than anything, but The Hollywood Reporter highlighted how the hashtag #BobaFett produces an emoji on Twitter, so there’s obviously some branding at work.
With all these bits of information, it’s highly possible that Fett will appear in the Disney+ series. A quote by creator Jon Favreau, however, casts doubt on the possibility, as he gave the following answer on Good Morning America in response to the likelihood of Fett’s appearance:
“Boba Fett is not … they’re all new, original characters. And I might add, a time frame that there’s a 30-year stretch of story time that hasn’t been explored at all except in the Extended Universe.”
Still, there’s no writing off Fett’s arrival to The Mandalorian. Considering the lazy, anti-climatic way he was killed in the original trilogy, it seems only apt to grant the bounty hunter the extra screentime he so deserves.
Guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
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