The individual films and series from the ‘Star Wars’ universe are sometimes more, sometimes less sombre, but despite a few severed limbs and heads, they are (reasonably) family-friendly. Things could have turned out differently with a once-planned movie about the popular bounty hunter Boba Fett. ‘Logan – The Wolverine’ creator James Mangold now reveals this in a long interview about his new film ‘Indiana Jones and the Wheel of Destiny’.
After Josh Trank, who was originally set to direct the “Star Wars” spin-off, had to leave the director’s chair following the debacle surrounding his “Fantastic Four” movie, Mangold had to deal with the case. And what he had planned for the big screen adventure would probably have brought us a movie from a galaxy far, far away like we’ve never seen there…
Would “Boba Fett” have become like “Logan”?
As Mangold explained on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, he got his Boba Fett movie presented as a spaghetti western set on a single planet bordering on the R rating, i.e. the US adult rating. That sounds a bit like the raw and uncompromising approach Mangold managed to pull off with his critically acclaimed X-Men entry, Logan: The Wolverine, at the time. So we couldn’t have expected anything less than the most brutal “Star Wars” movie ever.
Even then, Mangold was apparently aware that his approach would have been difficult for the decision-makers at the “Star Wars” studio Lucasfilm: “I probably scared the hell out of everyone”said the filmmaker.
What ultimately killed the project was not Mangold’s bold approach, but the fact that Lucasfilm, after the failure of “Solo: A Star Wars Story“ has generally distanced itself from its spin-off project. So James Mangold didn’t even get the chance to develop his idea further.
Instead, Boba Fett made a (more family-friendly) comeback a few years later in the second season of the “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian” and a little later in its own offshoot “The Book of Boba Fett” on Disney+. And it won’t be the last we see of the bounty hunter from the original Star Wars trilogy.
James Mangold is still making a Star Wars movie
However, James Mangold did not interfere with those responsible for “Star Wars” at the time. Because even though nothing came of his adult Boba Fett adventure, he’ll soon be responsible for yet another “Star Wars” project. in a untitled movie he will delve deep into the past of the Star Wars universe to investigate the origins of the Force and the first Jedi.
It’s still unclear when James Mangold’s “Star Wars” movie, which he himself has compared to biblical epics like “The Ten Commandments,” will hit theaters. While two new “Star Wars” movies have been announced for 2026, it’s more likely that this will be the continuation of the saga with Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Dave Filoni’s Mandoverse finale, which will follow the events of the series “The Mandalorian”, “The Book of Boba Fett” and “Ahsoka” must be completed.