Star Wars fans the world over are impatiently waiting for the arrival of The Book of Boba Fett on Disney+ – but not everyone is entirely thrilled about the series’ direction.
Enter Joe Johnston, art director and filmmaker who worked alongside concept artist Ralph McQuarrie to design the look and feel of a new class of Stormtroopers and Boba Fett.
Ahead of The Book of Boba Fett’s imminent release, Johnston told The New York Times that he would have preferred the infamous bounty hunter to remain anonymous.
“I never would have shown his face. I would never have had an actor underneath where he takes the helmet off and you see who it is,” Johnston admitted.
“I think that eliminates a lot of the mystery. Before that helmet comes off, he can be anybody.”
Of course, the latest Star Wars series will very much put a face, established identity, and even a backstory to the name of Boba Fett – despite Johnston initially envisaging the bounty hunter as a more abstract character.
Revealing that he’d taken inspiration from the nameless stranger played by Clint Eastwood in spaghetti westerns, Johnston said that Boba Fett was initially “neither a hero nor a villain”.
He added: “You could hire Boba Fett to do whatever job you wanted him to do.”
Premiering tomorrow (December 29), The Book of Boba Fett is set to explain how Boba Fett was saved from the Sarlacc Pit in Return of the Jedi, with a new trailer for the series delving even more deeply into the character’s past. (DigitalSpy)
