The Mandalorian might have been borne out of the axed Boba Fett solo movie, but the main character appears to have more in common with Boba’s father, Jango Fett. After the release of The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, Boba Fett became a cult figure in the Star Wars world, but precious little of his story actually featured in the original trilogy. Boba’s tale was expanded upon somewhat in the prequel movies with the introduction of Jango, a Mandalorian and the base model for the army of clones being engineered on Kamino. Jango was killed in Attack of the Clones, beheaded by Mace Windu at the Battle of Geonosis.
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In acknowledgement of Boba Fett’s enduring popularity, Lucasfilm had planned to release a solo movie based entirely around the infamous bounty hunter, but their struggles with Solo put paid to that idea. Instead, that project was morphed into The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars TV series. Set 5 years after Return of the Jedi, Pedro Pascal’s Mandalorian has no direct connection to Boba or Jango other than their shared culture, but the visual similarities are evident, especially from a marketing perspective. Pascal even claimed to have signed onto the project believing he was going to portray Boba Fett.
Despite the obvious intentional parallels between the currently-unnamed (in the show at least) Mandalorian and Boba Fett, it could be argued that the newest bounty hunter in Star Wars canon shares more in common with Jango Fett. For example, Jango is seen in Attack of the Clones using a wrist-mounted flamethrower. This is a weapon that Boba has been belatedly armed with in wider Star Wars media but, in terms of the main movie series at least, Jango is more closely associated with this part of a Mandalorian’s arsenal. It also appears to be a favorite of Baby Yoda‘s current guardian.
In another nod to Attack of the Clones, the Mandalorian’s battle with the Mud Horn in episode 2 shares many similarities with Jango Fett’s fight against the Reek in Episode II. Aside from the clear visual references between the two monsters, both fights share certain beats, such as the bounty hunters getting tossed around and charged at from the front.
Finally, it could perhaps be said that the Mandalorian is more akin in personality to Jango Fett, as opposed to his son Boba. While much of Pascal’s bounty hunter remains a mystery, it’s evident that, despite his profession, the man holds a code of honor and bears a paternal streak, particularly to small, green, baby Force-users. The Mandalorian’s violence feels measured and only used so far as necessary in the course of collecting a bounty. This description would perhaps be more applicable to Jango Fett than his son, who was somewhat notorious for going overboard (“no disintegrations!”) and appeared to lack some of the principles found in Mandalorian culture.
With many episodes left of The Mandalorian‘s first season, there’s plenty of time for the title character to show some personality quirks closer to Boba than Jango, but given that the series originally derived from a Boba Fett solo movie, it’s perhaps a little surprising that the character seems to lean more towards his father.
The Mandalorian continues November 22nd on Disney+
