Boba Fett escapes his encounter with the Sarlacc Pit in ROTJ via Wookieepedia
Boba Fett has arguably been one of the most favorite characters of ‘Star Wars’ fans since he first appeared in the lackluster ‘Star Wars Holiday Special.’ Hardcore fans know that Fett’s journey didn’t end with him falling in the Sarlacc pit in ‘Return of the Jedi.’ He would go on to become an integral part of the ‘Star Wars’ expanded universe. While he has appeared in a plethora of material in the expanded universe, there was always a small hint of doubt that he actually lived on. ‘Star Wars’ used to be broken into different levels of canon, and Fett’s adventures after ‘Return of the Jedi’ were never set in stone. Then, earlier this year, the expanded universe rebooted and was labeled “Legends.” This set the hundreds of novels, comic books, and other materiel in an “alternate universe” of sorts; and sealed the fate of many beloved characters.
Flash forward to today. J.W. Rinzler, a ‘Star Wars’ historian and writer known for his many books that chronicle the history of the franchise, conducted an “Ask Me Anything” session on social media site, Reddit. Rinzler was asked point-blank whether Boba Fett survived his apparent demise in ‘Return of the Jedi.’ His reply brings hope to the ‘Star Wars’ universe. “Yes, he does,” Rinzler stated, “I have been in meetings with George where he confirms that Fett survived. If it comes from George then it’s true!”
This opens up the doorway for Fett to appear in the upcoming ‘Sequel Trilogy’ and the rumored Bobe Fett spinoff movie. It’s now possible that we could see Fett in his own movie that takes place after ‘Return of the Jedi!’ Though Rinzler seems to be setting us up just to knock us back down, as he scoffs at a stand alone movie featuring Fett. “Their own movie and why… I don’t know, that’s a hard question. It’s always such an ensemble thing. Star Wars is not really a solo; it is not like the Clint Eastwood ‘man with no name’ thing. It is always about a group of characters. I can’t think of one, it would have to be a group project. I like to see Star Wars movies that have a deep meaning. It doesn’t matter to me who the characters are, as long as there is something for the soul to grab on to. How is that for pretentious?” While Rinzler probably doesn’t have a lot of influence on what ‘Star Wars’ films get made, its an interesting stance and one possible held by others at Lucasfilm.
Besides the big news surrounding Boba Fett, Rinzler also commented on other things. He shared some insight into the long-held rumor about George Lucas acquiring all the licensing rights for the first installment, ‘A New Hope.’ Rinzler stated, “Everybody thinks George negotiated for all of the licensing rights. Not true. We only got half of the rights for the first movie. Because he had the sequel rights he was able to renegotiate. In fact, the smart thing with George and the sequel rights was that nobody thought they were worth anything, but he knew they were.”
Rinzler also expressed excitement about upcoming projects from Lucasfilm that he might be taking a part in. Many fans know Rinzler is a master at conducting interviews, doing research, and archiving the production of ‘Star Wars’ films. It looks like more projects might be on the horizon in the same vein. “I think fans can rest assured that there’s going to be a couple of really big archives books coming our way. In fact, we could say we just got some good news. I’m breaking that story here on reddit!” Another fan asked him if there would be any revisions of his ‘Prequel Trilogy’ books. “Well that would be nice, but it’s highly unlikely,” Rinzler replied. “I would like to put out an edition of the Episode III book that includes the last chapter which was only available online. That would be fun. But now with all the new movies, I think we’re going to be looking forward to the next decade or so.” This seems to be a common trend among ‘Star Wars’ license holders in recent months, so its not surprising to hear everyone is looking to move forward, not backwards.
One other treasure to come from the “Ask Me Anything” session was when a fan asked about Mark Hamill’s input on the ‘Origin Trilogy.’ Rinzler replied, “Well what I would say is that in the real world, Mark Hamill should be given many kudos for all of the work he did to learn how to fight with a lightsaber. He was in fantastic shape and he was really proud of the fact that he did nearly all of his own stunts. He got an official union stuntman card in the UK which is a very hard thing to achieve. He’s kind of the big athlete of the Star Wars saga. Luke trains with Yoda after all. And for the prequel trilogy you have Nick Gillard who was the stunt coordinator who just did an amazing job with all the modern lightsaber fights and the different fighting styles.”
Those are the highlights of the AMA, but feel free to check out the full text, here. What do you think about Fett’s survival? Share your thoughts about the AMA session with us online and on Twitter. We can be found at @arybak89 (Alex Rybak) and at @yodasnews (official Yoda’s News account).