SPOILER ALERT: Warning, this article contains spoilers from Solo: A Star Wars Story. Proceed at your own risk.
Just before Solo: A Star Wars Story hit theaters, reports emerged that the next stand alone Star Wars film would be based on Boba Fett. Logan director James Mangold is reportedly attached to direct the film that would focus on the famed bounty hunter and his life, presumably before the Original Trilogy.
Since Han Solo was aware of Boba Fett’s presence in the original slate of films, its very likely that he crossed paths with Boba in the years between Solo and Star Wars: A New Hope. Let’s break down where Boba Fett could be in that 10 year period and why Darth Maul, the epic cameo at the end of Solo, could be the villain of the stand alone Boba Fett film.
Boba Fett’s Timeline
Audiences first met Boba Fett as a child in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. Boba was a clone of Jango Fett, the man whose DNA was used to create all of the clones for the Republic’s Clone army, and Jango raised Boba as his own son. As the Clone Wars broke out, Boba watched his dad die at the hands of Jedi Master Mace Windu.
Boba Fett’s vendetta against Windu began a year after his father’s death and was explored in The Clone Wars, Season 2, Episode 15 “Death Trap”. During that time, Boba had acquired his father’s ship, Slave 1, and began traveling with a group of bounty hunters. One of those bounty hunters was Aurra Sing, who was briefly mentioned in Solo. Boba could easily pass for a young clone, because of his DNA, which put him in close contact with Windu and Anakin Skywalker.
In Season 2 Episode 17, “Lethal Trackdown“, Mace eventually captured Boba Fett and Bossk. Boba apologized for the destruction he caused while trying to exact his revenge, but he refused to forgive Windu for killing his father. Boba resurfaced during a few other episodes of The Clone Wars, including Season 4, Episode 20 “Bounty”. By this point, Boba was around 12 years old and was already running a crew of bounty hunters.
Boba then relocated his crew of bounty hunters to Tatooine one year later. This timeline was explored in the book Dark Disciple. Fett was not seen or heard from again, until 19 years later, in A New Hope. In that film, you can see Boba standing under the Millennium Falcon when Jabba comes looking for Han Solo’s money. This shows that after 19 years, Fett is one of Jabba the Hutt’s main enforcers.
If Fett spent the last 19 years doing the Hutt’s dirty work, the he could have helped Jabba take out his competition, including Crimson Dawn. This is where Darth Maul comes in to play and why he should be Boba’s main villain.
Darth Maul, Head of Crimson Dawn
As we saw at the end of Solo, Darth Maul is the head of Crimson Dawn, the crime syndicate that Dryden Vos was working for. As the opening cards of Solo stated: crime syndicates had filled the vacuum left by the Republic and they were a rising problem, something akin to the mafia or the black market.
Another crime syndicate family that was mentioned in the film was the Hutts. Based on The Clone Wars, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and the original trilogy, the Hutts are gangsters and slavers. They have been working the Outer Rim territories since before Crimson Dawn was even in the smuggling/trading business.
Our pitch for the Boba Fett movie: have Jabba the Hutt send Boba and his team of bounty hunters on a mission to sabotage the operations of Crimson Dawn. Boba could work through the lower level baddies, people like Qi’ra, until he gets all the way to Darth Maul.
Boba and Maul could engage in an epic battle — especially since Boba hates all Jedi (good or bad). Boba could take out all of his anti-Jedi aggressions on Maul and Maul could fight Boba as a way to get to Jabba and the Hutt family. They could duel it out for a trade route or a smuggling operation, something that fits right into the timeline that Solo established. Plus, it would be wicked awesome to Fett and Maul in combat against each other.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is currently in theaters.
