‘The Mandalorian’: People Are Calling the Return of Fan-Favorite Bounty Hunter a ‘Death Retcon’
With the season premiere of The Mandalorian including a shocking reveal at the end, Star Wars fans are even more invested in the series than last year.
The final scene of Season 2’s first episode featured (spoilers ahead!) the actor Temuera Morrison appearing to reprise the character of Boba Fett. While this was great news for many, other Star Wars fans have questioned the move.
So what exactly is their issue with bringing back Boba? Here’s why they feel as if the “death retcon” may not be as great as everyone thinks.
Boba Fett’s fate in ‘Return of the Jedi’
Fett had very little screen time in the original Star Wars trilogy. He appeared in The Empire Strikes Back as one of the many bounty hunters Darth Vader hired to track Han Solo and Princess Leia. He also appeared in Return of the Jedi, where he hand-delivered a frozen-in-carbonite Han to Jabba the Hutt.
As a guest at Jabba’s Palace, Fett is present when Luke and his friends infiltrate Jabba’s court and eventually rescue Han.
While Fett had acquired a reputation as a fan-favorite villain from the series, he dies in a comical fashion. Still blind from hibernation sickness, Han reacts in surprise when Chewbacca informs him Fett is nearby.
Han inadvertently turns and activates Fett’s jet pack, sending him off the sail barge and to his demise at the hands of the Sarlacc, a monstrous sand beast that lives in the ground of Tatooine.
Fett was brought back as a character for the prequel trilogy, this time as a child revealed to be a clone of bounty hunter Jango Fett.
How ‘The Mandalorian’ may have brought back Boba Fett
There’s no question that Fett’s popularity led to the development of The Mandalorian series. Star Wars fans speculated that the series’ main character was in fact Fett before the show debunked that rumor.
The characters did share the same battle armor, however, and when the studio announced it had cast Temuera Morrison in season two, fans couldn’t help but wonder if Fett was back.
In the Season 2 premiere, Mando travels to Tatooine (the same world on which Fett seemingly “perished”) when he receives reports of another Mandalorian. It turns out to be a town marshal named Cobb Vanth simply using the Mandalorian armor.
After helping Vanth dispatch of a monstrous krayt dragon, Mando takes the armor from Vanth and leaves the planet. The final shot of the episode reveals Morrison, looking rather haggard, watching Mando fly away.
It’s possible Morrison is playing a different character (he also portrayed the clones in the prequels), but fans were convinced this meant Fett was back.
Why fans are calling the return of Boba Fett a ‘death retcon’
Fett was seemingly killed in Return of the Jedi, but this makes it seem as though he made it out of his experience alive. At least one Star Wars fan didn’t like the decision.
Here’s what one Reddit poster had to say about the supposed “death retcon” of Fett:
“Personally not a huge fan. I know it’s a meme to joke about how he is a fan favorite character despite having like 5 minutes of total screen time in the OT, but they need to make him FASCINATING for a death retcon to work for me..”
This is a fair criticism. Part of Fett’s appeal in the past was the mystery around the character. So little was known about him that fans could fill in their own story about the character. Now? He’s being cast as an important figure in a major Star Wars series.
The creative team behind the show better have a compelling storyline for Fett beyond just looking cool, otherwise they’ll have brought him back for nothing.
