Ever since Boba Fett’s first silver screen appearance in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, he’s been a fan favorite character in the Star Wars universe. After his apparent death in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi, fans have been waiting for a proper continuation of his story.

In 2014, a Boba Fett spin-off film began early stages of development but was eventually canceled in 2015. Fans held out hope that they’d get a Boba Fett film but in 2018, however, Disney changed their plans for Star Wars and were no longer working on a Boba Fett movie.  Instead executives began work on a show by the name of The Mandalorian. 

The Mandalorian debuted in late 2019 to critical and commercial success with the series utilizing much of the lore originating from Boba Fett. In season two of the show released in 2020, the titular bounty hunter returned and it was announced that a full Boba Fett show would premiere on December 29, 2021.

I was a big fan of the Mandelorian seasons one and two. While they have some problems, I think they were a great return to form for Star Wars, embracing simplicity and excellent storytelling rather than an over-reliance on fan service and nostalgia, and not much else the main movies had fallen into by that point. With this in mind, I was skeptical when this show was announced, especially because I’ve never been a huge fan of Boba Fett. I’ve always thought he was a cool visual in the original films but never much of a character, but a show like this gave a perfect opportunity to fix this issue.

The Book of Boba Fett follows the iconic bounty hunter as well as Fennec Shand who was introduced in Season 2 of The Mandalorian, played by Ming-Na Wen, as they claim their place in the crime-ridden underworld. Boba Fett is again portrayed by Temuera Morrison, who originally played Jango Fett, the clone base of Boba Fett. 

The first four episodes go back and forth between present day and flashbacks. The flashbacks show what Boba Fett was up to leading up to his appearance in The Mandalorian, and are decently interesting. They do a good job of characterizing him beyond just a bounty hunter showing him to have a moral code. However, the sections set in the present day are not very compelling to me. In the first half of the show, the parts set in the present aren’t as focused on, and fail to establish a specific overarching goal, which makes everything that happens not really feel like it matters. While the flashback parts are better, they still barely reach even the low points of The Mandalorian, and get old pretty quickly. Boba Fett is a fine character but though he’s better characterized in this, I still don’t think he’s interesting enough to carry a whole show. Fennec Shand is an even worse character and is barely focused on or developed at all.

Visually the show is okay. Most of the time the cinematography and lighting are very bland, but at times it also looks great. The action is also isn’t amazing. A lot of the action scenes feel awkward to me, and not super well choreographed. There are a couple exceptions, but not enough to say the show has good action overall. This forgettable action also doesn’t help Boba Fett’s character. He already isn’t written to be all that compelling, and the awkward action doesn’t help him to be very cool either.

Not even the show writers seem to be very interested in Boba Fett. This is evident by the bizarre shift in focus in episodes five and six. In these two episodes, the show picks up the story of The Mandalorian from when we last saw him in season two. During the previously mentioned episodes, Boba Fett takes a backseat in his own show, and I don’t believe it’s a coincidence these are the best episodes of the show. This is the only part of the show that meets the standard of quality set by The Mandalorian. 

Overall, the show has its ups and downs. The episodes centered around Boba aren’t bad, but all blend together and were very forgettable to me. The episodes centered around Din Djarin however are by far the strongest in the series and are certainly worth watching if you want to see his story continued. Though I would have preferred if they just saved these episodes for the third season of The Mandalorian. If you’re a fan of the world of Star Wars you may enjoy this but if you’re just looking for a consistently entertaining show, look somewhere else.