Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet: Robert Rodriguez Teases Surprises for ‘Book of Boba Fett’

Last year Disney had their Investor’s Day event where they announced 10 new Star Wars series in development, then a couple days later the season two finale of The Mandalorian aired with a post-credit scene that announced The Book of Boba Fett coming the following Christmas. This caused a ton of confusion with fans wondering if the original Mandalorian bounty hunter was going to be the star of the series third season or if the show had been cancelled and replaced.

Series co-creator Jon Favreau had to go on Good Morning America the next day to clarify that it was a separate spinoff and we’d still be getting a third season of The Mandalorian. Turns out, a lot more people were confused than just fans. Book of Boba Fett co-showrunner Robert Rodriguez told The Hollywood Reporter:

“Even Disney didn’t know we were going to drop it like that. I got to see the inner workings, and [Favreau and writer-producer-director Dave Filoni] kept this a secret from everybody.”

Obviously, the folks who greenlit the project had to know, but to keep it a secret from everyone else is damn impressive. But then again, the show kept Grogu/the Child a secret until the series debuted. As to why Rodriguez is on the project, when he normally shies away from franchises, he says this one is different:

“I usually avoid premier properties — you’ll never be able to please everybody, it’s a losing game. I’d rather go do something I’ve created so nobody can say, ‘Hey, that’s wrong because …’ I created it, so it can be anything I want it to be. I love that freedom. That changed with Boba because he was a character that was always underserved. It was a character way more popular than he should have been, based on [his limited screen time]. So it’s almost like starting with an original character. You can kind of do anything you want, so long as you make him cool and don’t make him a buffoon.”