Here in pop culture land, we always like a good hypothetical match-up: Can Batman beat Superman? (Almost always.) Could the cast of The Lord Of The Rings beat The Expendables in a fight? (Doubtful; magic rings can’t top rocket-propelled grenades.) Can John Wick beat Dracula? (John Wick can beat anything.) But it’s rare to see one of these fights go down so definitively—and preemptively—as the battle that appears to have just played out between classic Star Wars baddie Boba Fett and the hot new bounty-hunting kid on the block, The Mandalorian, with the up-and-comer apparently killing off the Fett vet’s big movie plans before they even had a chance to start.
This is per Deadline, which reports that Disney’s plans for a big Boba Fett spin-off movie, directed by Logan’s James Mangold, have now been shuttered, at least in part so that the company can focus more attention on Jon Favreau’s new space-based bounty hunter TV series. Of course, that’s less about the actual merits of the two characters—both helmeted ciphers at this point, despite the fact that one of them is brand new, and the other has been around now for literally 30 years—and more about Disney’s current focus toward small-screen Star Wars stuff. After Solo merely made “a lot” of money this year, instead of the much-hoped-for “fuck-ton,” the company has been steadily pulling back on its expansive plans for a new extended cinematic Star Wars universe, focusing on less expensive endeavors instead.
Meanwhile, Favreau’s show—which is being described as a sort of galactic Western with a bounty hunting theme, complete with its unnamed hero sporting a cool wood-stocked space rifle in promo images—is a key part of the company’s latest big ambition: The planned Netflix-competing streaming service it’s expected to debut some time next year. It makes sense, then, that the company would pour more cash and love into making sure the service’s first big franchise offerings were up to snuff. Casting information is being kept quiet on Favreau’s series, but Disney has already announced that several big-name directors—including Thor: Ragnarok’s Taiki Waititi—will be helming episodes of the show. Meanwhile, The Mandalorian has already racked up its first big kills, confining poor Boba to the Sarlacc pit of history yet again.