Is Lawrence Kasdan writing a young Boba Fett spinoff movie?

Much has been said about 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII, and most of it was about the fact that director/co-writer JJ Abrams and the folks at Lucasfilm weren’t actually saying anything. But while the clues to the content of Episode VII has been as tenuous as you can get, apparently the first new standalone spinoff movie, being penned by Empire Strikes Back writer Lawrence Kasdan and due the following year, just got a pretty solid lead: It seems that we may be seeing the story of a young Boba Fett, easily the most famous movie bounty hunter to ever appear on-screen for less than 20 minutes before dying sadly in a giant alien sand vagina.

The revelation – which had been swirling around as the iffiest of rumours since the announcement that Kasdan and Simon Kinberg would be penning two standalone movies set to be released between the chapters of the main Episodes trilogy – comes from writer Jon Schnepp (via JediNews), who has done extensive work for Cartoon Network on shows such as Metalocalypse and Venture Bros. He revealed to AMC Movie Talk that he kn0ws for certain, without any doubt, what Kasdan is working on.

“One of them is Boba Fett. It is. I know. I know for a fact. I will never reveal my source, but it is the one written by Lawrence Kasdan.”

Now Cartoon Network was the home of the Star Wars: Clone Wars animated series for many years, and will be the home of the new Star Wars Rebels series as well, so it’s certainly not outside of the realm of possibility that Schnepp, with all his Cartoon Network connections, has the inside scoop on something Star Wars related. And it just makes sense that Kasdan, who penned Fett’s first big screen appearance in Empire Strikes Back (his actual first appearance was actually in the animated Star Wars Holiday Special), should return to the character now.

Fett’s insane popularity has always been the most puzzling thing. After his debut in the abovementioned Holiday Special, fans were already dressing up in his distinctive Mandalorian armour. But after his total 6 minutes of screen time in Empire Strikes Back and just 13-minute appearance in Return of the Jedi, he somehow became one of the franchise’s most popular characters. People knew next to nothing about him, except that he looked cool, but that was seemingly enough to see him cemented him as a firm fan favourite. His then subsequent frequent appearances (oh yeah, he somehow got over the whole “being eaten alive” thing) in the Star Wars Expanded Universe’s books, comics and videogames just added to that.

Seeing as how we haven’t seen/read much about the gap between us seeing a prepubescent Boba picking up his father’s helmet (recently the home of his father’s decapitated head courtesy of Mace Windu’s lightsaber) and him showing up in Empire Strikes Back to add one giant Han Solo shaped ice cube to his collection, there’s certainly lots of leeway for a story about a badass space bounty hunter who lives his live by a strict code of honour and has a massive hatred for Jedi. Kasdan could certainly write the hell out of a story about that, and I would definitely be there to see it, if it’s true. Now just get director Joe Johnston (The Rocketeer, Captain America: The First Avenger, Jumanji), the guy who actually designed Boba Fett way before he became a famous filmmaker himself, to take up the director’s chair, and Lucasfilm will have to beat the fans off with a stick.

Last Updated: January 6, 2014