Forty years ago, Han Solo said it best. “Boba Fett? Boba Fett? Where?” After the character’s unexpected return in The Mandalorian season two, he got a full backstory in The Book of Boba Fett. But now it’s been well over a year and even after a full season of The Mandalorian, the first famous Mandalorian is still nowhere to be seen.
Will he appear in Ahsoka? The Mandalorian season four? Another season of The Book of Boba Fett? One person who knows is Robert Rodriguez, who directed Boba’s Mandalorian return in “The Tragedy” and executive produced The Book of Boba Fett, while also directing almost half the series. io9 spoke to him on behalf of his upcoming Ben Affleck sci-fi thriller Hypnotic and tried to find out, but Rodriguez wouldn’t budge.
“I can’t say,” he told io9. “I’m sworn to secrecy. I wish I could tell you. I know all the answers to what you’re asking, but I can’t say.” Which, to be honest, is the answer we expected. Was he going to say? “Oh, Mando recruits him in season four and then they fight side by side in the Dave Filoni movie?” Of course not. But it was worth a shot.
What Rodriguez was clear about is just how much he cherishes the character and the universe. He even compares his time in a galaxy far, far, away to a fantasy camp.
“Everything you saw every day… it didn’t feel like you were seeing behind the scenes. It felt so real,” Rodriguez said. “The sets were so real. Even the volume was so real that you felt like you were in Star Wars… You know, there’s these’s things called ‘Rock Camp’ that if you want to go play with [Aerosmith guitarist] Joe Perry or something, you pay money to get on stage for two seconds with him? This is what a director would pay money to do. To have Star Wars camp. To get to direct and edit and be part of the Star Wars universe just as an experience is one of my favorite experiences because it was just a dream come true.”
Maybe, one day, we’ll see him back there. Until then, you can see Rodriguez’s attempt at making his own version of an Alfred Hitchcock film, with a sci-fi twist, in Hypnotic starring Ben Affleck. It’s out Friday and we’ll have more on that later this week.
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