Mandalorian Season 2 Can End The Boba Fett Fan Divide
The new characters in The Mandalorian season 2 could work together to give fans the first truly multifaceted look at the legacy of Boba Fett.
You Are Reading :Mandalorian Season 2 Can End The Boba Fett Fan Divide
The Mandalorian’s Din Djarin will be joined by Boba Fett and Cobb Vanth in season 2, and together they may be able to give Star Wars fans everything they want from Fett’s character, even if they want very different things. Although The Mandalorian follows the adventures of Din, who is a member of the titular culture, it seemed inevitable that the show would eventually have to reckon with the legacy of Boba Fett, a character whose immense popularity among fans sparked interest in the Mandalorian culture in the first place.
Bounty hunter Boba Fett first appeared in The Star Wars Holiday Special before making his big screen debut in The Empire Strikes Back, both of which established him as a fan favorite character by virtue of his silent demeanor, striking armor, and aura of danger. While his ruthless reputation remains to this day, this persona was undermined somewhat by the ignoble end that he meets in Return of the Jedi, when he is accidentally knocked into the Sarlacc pit by Han Solo. Moreover, a common counterargument to his popularity suggests that Fett ultimately doesn’t do much during his film appearances, simply serving as the muscle for more significant villains.
With The Mandalorian season 2 including Star Wars characters like Djarin, Vanth, and Fett in a show that revolves so heavily around the near-mythic image of the latter, it can really do justice to all of these contradictory opinions. Din Djarin, as a loyal representative of the Mandalorian culture, can stand for the platonic ideal of Boba Fett that some fans venerate, bringing a cold, stylish efficiency while largely avoiding the need to reconcile it with the inevitable failings of any individual character. Conversely, Cobb Vanth, in donning Fett’s armor, also makes use of the cultural status found therein, but to a more practical, personal end, as he attempts to protect Freetown in his role as sheriff. Emphasizing the value of the bounty hunter’s image alone, and putting it to such a wildly different purpose, could be a riff on Fett’s reputation being built on a few appearances that were very little bark and almost no bite.
Boba Fett himself will be the most interesting addition to The Mandalorian season 2, because he is the root of this debate and thus could be taken in either of these directions. On the one hand, his age and presumed seniority among the Mandalorian people could certainly be used as a reverent metaphor for the character being the real-world inspiration for the culture. On the other, he is the one who experienced such an infamously embarrassing (near-)death, so the onus is on the show to explain not only how Boba Fett survived Return of the Jedi, but also if and how it might have humbled his worldview.
But even if season 2 chooses to lean into the more downbeat elements of Fett’s backstory, there may still be an opportunity for redemption, in a roundabout way. Temuera Morrison is rumored to be playing not only Boba Fett, but also Rex, a trooper and fellow clone of Jango Fett whose journey is shown in The Clone Wars. In a sense, Rex is the heroic alternative to Boba Fett, fighting for the Republic during the Clone Wars, then resisting his programming during Order 66 and going on to fight for the Rebel Alliance during the Galactic Civil War. If he makes an appearance, he can play into notions of Fett as an anti-hero, which both fan adoration and the prequel trilogy’s tragic backstory would support, without explicitly rewriting the character as virtuous.
Boba Fett’s impact on the Star Wars fandom can’t be understated; in terms of popularity relative to number of filmed lines, he is easily the saga’s most successful character. But this ratio also magnifies the scrutiny placed on his on-screen actions, which has lead to division in fan interpretation. As opposed to choosing a definitive perspective on Fett, season 2 of The Mandalorian might be in a unique position to justify and legitimize a number of conflicting viewpoints by giving fans a multifaceted look at just how much can be extrapolated from one iconically blank helmet.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/star-wars-mandalorian-season-2-boba-fett-divisive-end/