Fulfilling the dreams of upper-tier Star Wars dorks everywhere (plus, presumably, nerdcore rapper MC Chris), THR reports today that Logan’s James Mangold has signed on to direct a standalone Star Wars story focused on bounty hunter Boba Fett.
It’s not clear yet whether Mangold’s movie (which might have had its origins in a project supposedly helmed by his X-Men franchise palSimon Kinberg) will focus on Fett in his pre- or post-Sarlacc days. If it’s the latter, it’ll be the first real hint that Han Solo’s Empire Strikes Back hunter—whose status as the galaxy’s most enigmatic badass was exploited, explored, and ultimately kind of ruined by George Lucas’ prequel films, which revealed him to basically be a baby Stormtrooper—survived the events of Return Of The Jedi. (At least, not since Tales From Jabba’s Palace got wiped out of continuity. Or, uh… so we heard. From our, like, super-nerdy cousin. Anyway, moving on.)
Inspired by the expected success of this weekend’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, Disney has been making a push recently to get more of these single-character Star Wars films on the books. There’s also apparently an Obi-Wan movie percolating somewhere, with Stephen Daldry lined up to direct, but no writers or script yet attached.