The Star Wars franchise has underwent evolution after evolution in the past decade. After the end of the Skywalker Saga (and the failure of prequel movie Solo), the franchise found a safe haven on the Disney Plus streaming service through success stories like The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Ahsoka. But there were also underperformers like The Acolyte and Skeleton Crew, as well as the one that ended up somewhere in between both: The Book of Boba Fett. It all forced Disney and Lucasfilm to shift their plans around.
A planned fourth season of The Mandalorian became feature film The Mandalorian and Grogu instead and, just like that, the galaxy so far, far away returned to movie theaters. Although the results have been mixed, audiences have responded to the newest Star Wars movie well enough - and hopes are high that the Ryan Gosling-led Starfighter can restore the saga to its complete glory next summer. However, it turns out that, in the midst of all the changes, Disney may have ended up cancelling a series that we didn't know was supposed to return.
The Book of Boba Fett season 2 was originally planned, according to Star Wars actor
If you've seen The Mandalorian and Grogu, you might have recognized actor Johnny Coyne in the role of Lord Janu Coin. While Coyne has appeared in a lot of iconic TV shows like Once Upon A Time (and its spinoff), The Blacklist, Twin Peaks, and Alcatraz, he had appeared in the Star Wars franchise prior to this, playing the same role in the penultimate episode of The Mandalorian season 3. The Imperial villain appeared as one of the many holograms who spoke to Moff Gideon about Mando himself in a brief appearance, and that makes the character one of the only significant returnees from the show.
While Coin played a relatively large role in the feature film - as Mando was tasked to hunt him down and capture him - it turns out that he was actually supposed to have a bigger role throughout the Mando-Verse after his season 3 debut. According to Johnny Coyne (via Screen Rant), who spoke about his role at Fan Expo Philadelphia, the original plan was to have Lord Janu Coin appear in The Mandalorian season 4, as well as an episode of The Book of Boba Fett:
"They said they were going to put me into [The Mandalorian] season 4, and maybe a possible Boba Fett episode as well, and then it all went away. It all went away, and then the movie happened."
This is a pretty significant comment for multiple reasons. For starters, it gives us an insight into the changes that went on behind-the-scenes and how plans shifted during the Hollywood strikes of 2024 as Lucasfilm opted to bring Mando and Grogu to the big screen instead. However, it also suggests that the studio was planning on producing a second season of The Book of Boba Fett despite the mixed response - and, more importantly, despite the belief that it was only ever intended to be a one-and-done miniseries.
Released in 2021, The Book of Boba Fett starred Temeura Morrison in the titular role as he reprised his role from The Mandalorian as the iconic Star Wars bounty hunter. He was joined by Ming-Na Wen, who reprised her legendary role as Fennec Shand, as the pair led the highly-anticipated spinoff. But fans were perplexed by the finished product, which suffered from pacing issues, constant flashbacks to different timelines, and then how it essentially devolved into The Mandalorian season 2.5 halfway through its run.
As Coyne's appearance took place in The Mandalorian season 3 in 2023, that would suggest that Disney and Lucasfilm did have plans to revisit the series - despite reports that it was only designed to be a miniseries. And that means that, in another timeline, we may well have gotten The Book of Boba Fett season 2.
With that in mind, here is the timeline of events that seemingly led to Boba Fett season 2's scrapping:
- 2021: The Book of Boba Fett premieres to mixed reviews
- 2023: Lord Janu Coin makes his debut in The Mandalorian season 3
- 2024: Hollywood Strikes force Lucasfilm to pivot to theaters
- 2024: The Mandalorian S4 and unannounced Boba Fett S2 scrapped
- 2026: The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in movie theaters, leaving Disney+ era with unclear future
It's interesting to think about how a potential second season of Boba Fett might have impacted the overall story arc. Honestly, it wouldn't have been a bad idea.
The Book of Boba Fett season 2 would have been a chance to steady the Star Wars ship
While The Book of Boba Fett was admittedly shaky, there was potential there in the series. Fans responded to the characters well and, at the time, any part of the Mando-Verse that Dave Filoni had created for the Disney Plus streamer had turned to gold. The problem is that the issues with it highlighted the issues that the wider franchise was facing and, as the novelty wore off, we saw similar issues with The Mandalorian season 3, Ahsoka season 1, and even now The Mandalorian and Grogu.
If Disney and Lucasfilm had stayed the course with The Mandalorian season 4 and The Book of Boba Fett season 2, it would have allowed them to steady the overall Mando-Verse storyline, align the story with the second season of Ahsoka, and perhaps point the franchise in a direction - even if that direction was the endgame of that particular chapter.
Instead, they went for a quick fix with The Mandalorian and Grogu, which added nothing to the overall Star Wars storyline - or even the that of the Mando-Verse itself - and further harmed the franchise's box office standing (it likely won't break-even in its theatrical run), leaving the future of the characters in this corner of that galaxy so far, far away unclear right now. There's also Ahsoka season 2 on the horizon, which now simply feels like a quiet, forgotten farewell to the Mando-Verse instead of its next chapter. And for a chapter that once reinvigorated the Star Wars franchise, it deserves better than that.
Boba Fett could have used the chance of a second season for some long overdue spotlight - spotlight that the first season of his own show didn't exactly give him - and helped ultimately redeem the series after that divisive first season, while the show itself could have assisted the overall Mando-Verse story in getting back on its feet.
While Disney was already making some radical changes to the Star Wars franchise before this particular Mandalorian pivot, it seems that the once-forgotten Book of Boba Fett had survived those changes and may have actually returned for another outing. In a sad case of irony, the studios' new plans to scrap the TV era and reboot interest on the big screen has left the saga even more directionless than ever before. Where do we go from here?
The Mandalorian and Grogu is now in theaters.
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