[UPDATE: Following the publication of Screen Rant’s original article, multiple attendees of Morrison’s Fan Expo panel came out to correct the outlet’s reporting. Speaking to the unofficial Boba Fett Fan Club, cosplayer and artist Arturo “Turoseeker” Delgado, “[Morrison] said he couldn’t say anything. Not exactly denied it. He did say he was going to be in Mando season 4. But said he doesn’t know what’s going in with that.”
Additionally, Screen Rant originally portrayed Morrison as explicitly commenting on The Book of Boba Fett‘s ratings failure, he at no point actually made this comment himself. Rather, this was a misattribution of Screen Rant’s own words to the actor. Bounding Into Comics’ coverage did not mention this angle, as it was clear from reading the original piece that it was not a quote from Morrison, but Screen Rant’s error should be noted nonetheless.
The original article follows below.]
It seems near impossible to screw-up a popular character’s public image so badly that they outright have to abandon them for fear that their mere presence will turn off audiences – but alas, Disney has found a way to do so with the titular lead of Star Wars’ Book of Boba Fett, as the show’s failure has reportedly left the bounty hunter “on the shelf” for the foreseeable future.
This update to the fate of the fan-favorite, Mandalorian-armor-wearing gun for hire was provided by the character’s current actor, Temuera Morrison, during a recent appearance at the 2024 Fan Expo Chicago.
Speaking to fans as part of the convention’s From Clone Troopers to Bounty Hunters panel, when pressed about the topic of a possible appearance for Boba Fett in the upcoming The Mandalorian & Grogu cinematic film, the actor sadly admitted, per a recap provided by Screen Rant, “I’m still waiting for a phone call to be quite honest.”
“I think we’re just put on the shelf for a little bit,” he added. “Maybe we come off the shelf later.”
While an absolutely disappointing update to be sure – particularly for Morrison, as it was not his performance that has temporarily iced the fan-favorite character – this news does not come as a particular surprise given the absolutely abysmal experience that was Book of Boba Fett.
From its featuring of Space Vespas to its centering one of the most boring narrative seemingly possible, the Disney Plus is not only packed with numerous (and at this point well-documented) issues, but also represents one of the few moments in the franchise’s Disney-era history that both current and former Star Wars fans were able to collectively agree on a project’s poor quality.
Ultimately, while assummedly disappointing for the franchise’s handful of remaining fans, it comes as no surprise that the algorithm-chasing executives at Disney have chosen to bury the character (at least temporarily) rather than make any attempt to genuinely rehab the character’s image in the eyes of the public.
After all, that would require the allowance of such things as ‘creativity’, ‘genuine attempts at character writing’, and ‘care for the source material’ in a galaxy far, far away.
And sadly, as the House of Mouse’s history with the franchise has shown, those concepts are as “on the shelf” at Disney Lucasfilm as Fett’s character himself.
(But hey, if you’re in the mood for a good Boba Fett story, why not check out the Boba Fett: Death, Lies, and Treachery trade paperback from Dark Horse? You can’t go wrong with a trio of one-shots featuring the man actually hunting bounties, after all.)
