Forget The Last Jedi: Disney Star Wars' Worst Mistake Was This 2-Year-Old TV Show

Summary The Book of Boba Fett was Star Wars' worst mistake due to a muddled storyline and characters being sidelined.

Boba Fett's character appeal was diminished by being stuck in one place and overshadowed.

Connecting The Book of Boba Fett to The Mandalorian resulted in missed character development opportunities.

Though Star Wars: The Last Jedi was undoubtedly the franchise’s most contentious production, The Book of Boba Fett was unfortunately Star Wars’ worst mistake. The Last Jedi famously divided the fan base – while some appreciated Rian Johnson’s deviation from Star Wars’ usual narrative themes, others felt the film disrespected the legacies of characters like Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker. Nevertheless, the movie earned well over $1 billion at the global box office, paving the way for an equally divisive final installment of the sequel trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Though both those movies arguably led to a long theatrical hiatus for the franchise, one which will only end in 2026, the TV side of Star Wars was thankfully flourishing – except for one show. Though The Mandalorian, Disney+’s first flagship Star Wars series, had proven to be a hit, its first official spinoff, The Book of Boba Fett, ended up being anything but. While Boba Fett’s solo return had its merits – his alliance with the Tusken Raiders was especially compelling – the series suffered from being so closely connected to The Mandalorian and stalled the character’s progression indefinitely.

Related The Book Of Boba Fett Season 2: Updates, Renewal, & Everything We Know The Book of Boba Fett gave one of the most popular Original Trilogy characters their time in the spotlight - but will Boba Fett be back for season 2?

The Book Of Boba Fett Destroyed The Main Character's Appeal

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Temuera Morrison’s return as Boba Fett in The Mandalorian season 2 was an incredibly welcome surprise. This version of Fett, who had clearly been through hell and back, was stoic, strong, skilled, thoughtful, and wise. All in all, he was a much more compelling and complex character than The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi had ever been able to depict. None of those new traits took away from the commanding presence that had made him so popular and appealing in the first place, either. When The Mandalorian season 2 teased Boba Fett’s solo series, audiences were understandably optimistic.

Boba Fett deserved to be the star of his own show, but he and his most important supporting companion were undeservedly sidelined in favor of other characters and uninspiring storylines.

Sadly, that optimism didn’t last long. The Book of Boba Fett tried to do too much and somehow managed not to do enough as well. Switching between timelines, having Boba Fett take over as Mos Espa’s Kingpin, introducing several Legends and other obscure Star Wars characters, and most importantly, forcing The Mandalorian into the storyline created a muddled show that didn’t do its titular character justice. Boba Fett deserved to be the star of his own show, but he and his most important supporting companion were undeservedly sidelined in favor of other characters and uninspiring storylines.

Boba Fett's New Status Quo Just Isn't Appealing

What initially made the character so appealing was his mystique and intensity. When audiences learned more about a young Boba Fett through Star Wars: The Clone Wars, it became clear that Fett wasn’t a character who could ever truly settle down, spending all his time in one place. Boba Fett isn’t a natural protector. That’s not to say that his wanting to do good after what the Tuskens did for him is necessarily bad writing, but having him stay put on Tatooine, being stuck in one place until The Mandalorian franchise deems him necessary again, just isn’t all that alluring.

Additionally, Boba Fett’s showdown with Cad Bane deserved more attention, too – at the very least, more backstory was needed. Viewers who hadn’t seen The Clone Wars and were only watching Boba Fett because of The Mandalorian would have been understandably confused by their rivalry, and while their fight was visually interesting, and Boba Fett’s rage finally made its way to the surface, it didn’t feel like the ending either of these characters deserved.

Related All 10 Major Boba Fett Retcons & Changes Star Wars Has Made Since His Return 4 Years Ago Boba Fett has changed drastically since his canon introduction in The Empire Strikes Back, and the most significant retcons happened recently.

Boba Fett should be on the move, making his presence known throughout the galaxy. He’s not a crime lord, he’s a bounty hunter. He should be a shadow, hard to find and hard to die down. Instead, he’s been relegated to the sidelines because another Mandalorian galaxy-hopping bounty hunter had already stepped up to take his place.

The Book Of Boba Fett Devolved Into The Mandalorian Season 2.5

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The biggest problem with The Book of Boba Fett was and still is its innate connection to The Mandalorian. Though the character’s re-introduction in The Mandalorian season 2 was a rousing success, Boba Fett is now stuck within The Mandalorian’s shadow forever. Star Wars clearly believes that he cannot exist without being in Din Djarin’s orbit, as proven when The Book of Boba Fett somehow, within only seven episodes, became The Mandalorian season 2.5.

Star Wars may be trying to build a more interconnected universe on Disney+, but it shouldn’t happen at the expense of the characters and their individual stories.

Dedicating two entire episodes of Boba Fett’s show to The Mandalorian’s storylines was, to put it bluntly, a failure. The Mandalorian’s writers had separated its two most important characters at the end of season 2, and instead of using that separation to nurture some individual character development in The Mandalorian season 3, they saw The Book of Boba Fett as an opportunity to reunite them as quickly as they had been torn apart. Having Din Djarin support Boba during his final standoff in Mos Espa wasn’t enough to justify his or Grogu’s overwhelming presence on the show.

What made this even worse was that, arguably, the episodes focused on Din Djarin, the Darksaber, and Grogu’s Jedi training with Luke Skywalker were more cohesive than the rest of the show overall. In all honesty, what happened to these characters in The Book of Boba Fett wasn’t fair to any of them, including Din Djarin and Grogu. Some of their biggest moments happened in a show that wasn’t theirs, either. Star Wars may be trying to build a more interconnected universe on Disney+, but it shouldn’t happen at the expense of the characters and their individual stories.

The Book Of Boba Fett Missed One Massively Important Star Wars Story

Perhaps even more confusing than the choice to include Din Djarin, Grogu, Luke Skywalker, and even Ahsoka Tano in The Book of Boba Fett so prominently was the choice to skip over what is arguably one of Star Wars’ most important character meetings. For some reason, The Book of Boba Fett decided that it made more sense to join Luke and Ahsoka in a scene long after their first meeting, rather than witnessing such an important emotional moment.

Ahsoka’s cryptic and oddly placed reference to Luke’s father, her former Master, in which she tells Luke that he’s “so like [his] father,” isn’t enough to justify that choice. Next to Padmé Amidala and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka was one of the most important people in Anakin Skywalker’s life. She knew him better than almost anyone – Kenobi had certainly never shared much about Anakin with Luke. How did that affect him? How did that affect her? How did she react when she discovered Anakin had children before he fell to the dark side?

To learn more about Ahsoka Tano's time as Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Padawan, be sure to watch the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and TV show (2008).

On the whole, The Book of Boba Fett is a perfect example of how interconnected storytelling can actually be detrimental to the characters involved. Storylines get glossed over, some characters are ignored in favor of others, and important, emotional moments that would have resonated with almost every audience member are forgotten, unlikely to ever actually be put on film. It’s a shame. The Book of Boba Fett had genuine potential and the chance to give one of Star Wars’ most iconic yet undeveloped characters the chance to shine, but unfortunately, it squandered that chance.

All episodes of The Book of Boba Fett are available exclusively on Disney+.