15 Fascinating Star Wars Facts From the Book of Boba Fett Making-of Documentary

Why the hell were two episodes of The Book of Boba Fett about The Mandalorian? That’s one of many questions answered in Disney Gallery: Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, a brand new one-hour documentary recently added to Disney+ that dives into the making of the most recent Star Wars streaming show.

In the documentary, producers Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Robert Rodriguez spill the beans on some very cool behind-the-scenes moments, overall intentions, creature design, mythology, and, yes, why the Mandalorian shows up with Grogu, Ahsoka, and Luke Skywalker.

So click through and find out about the 15 most fascinating facts we learned from Disney Gallery: Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett.

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy reveals that at some point before The Book of Boba Fett existed, she had a discussion with Star Wars creator George Lucas. Lucas told her that he loved working with Temuera Morrison on Attack of the Clones and that if she was ever to do anything with Boba Fett, she should cast him. And so she did.

On a larger scale, series writer and producer Jon Favreau admitted the thing we all assumed to be true: Boba Fett started all of this. It was that character that gave them the confidence to make The Mandalorian which, in turn, gave them the confidence to bring back Boba Fett.

Obviously one of the biggest moments in The Book of Boba Fett was showing how Boba got out of the Sarlacc Pit, which is the last place we saw him in Star Wars chronology. The team explained that they wanted to make his survival logical, so they brainstormed ways he could have, scientifically, survived. Some options were a pocket of air that he could breathe, or using the breath or body of a dead Stormtrooper.

Since Boba Fett has been so mysterious for so many years, fans have naturally given him their own backstory and characteristics. The most common of those is that of a lawless bounty hunter, traversing the galaxy and getting into adventures. Well, Jon Favreau understands all that but he made this show different because he doesn’t think a straightforward action show like that would be “Star Wars.” To him, Star Wars is about characters facing obstacles within themselves.

Several minutes of the documentary are spent showing footage of Ming-Na Wen, who plays Fennic Shand, just geeking out about Star Wars. It’s wonderful. But Robert Rodriguez also mentions she’s so cool and confident as the character that he would often design scenes around something he calls “The Fennic Look.” It’s when she would give Boba Fett a look that speaks volumes—and several scenes were edited specifically so they could end with her giving “The Fennic Look.”

Director Robert Rodriguez says that the sand creature from the end of the first episode is his favorite creature in the whole series. It was his idea, but he had to pitch it during covid, which meant doing it over Zoom. How do you convey your idea for a four-armed sand creature over video chat? Well, he made a crude, malleable design out of wire, and also filmed himself as the creature, which helped production immensely.

As you’d expect, a chunk of the show is focused on the Sanctuary, the bar/casino run by Garsa Fwip, played by Jennifer Beals. Beals describes the bar as influenced by the bar owned by Rick, Humphery Bogart’s character in Casablanca, and she sees the character as a blend of Rick, Beyoncé, and Lauren Bacall. Plus, over 300 brand new costumes had to be designed for the scenes.

Steph Green, the director of episode two, explains that the Tusken raid of the train was largely inspired by Lawrence of Arabia, to the extent that Jon Favreau would show cast members clips from the classic film on set. Temuera Morrison was very inspired by this because he loves that film and the actors in it, and said shooting it afterward did feel a bit like Lawrence of Arabia—except this time, “I’m Lawrence.”

It’s the question you (hypothetically) came here to have answered. Well, Dave Filoni says he and Jon Favreau believed that, since Boba is friends with Mando, it would have been difficult to go a full season without seeing him. Even more telling though, Favreau says they’re “three seasons into our storytelling” which suggests he sees all the shows as one big story. That’s also why they decided to visualize the Siege of Mandalore in the episodes.

Basically, while we might see this as The Book of Boba Fett season one, he sees it as Filoni and Favreau, season three. And in season three, they couldn’t ignore their main character.

Fans of the Star Wars prequels were certainly excited to see the Naboo Starfighter, designed by Doug Chiang, back in The Book of Boba Fett. However, Jon Favreau explains that their take on it, to strip it down and upgrade it, was a nod to the hot rods of George Lucas’ youth, as seen in American Graffiti.

Remember how, in season two of The Mandalorian, production kept the secret of Luke Skywalker a secret by saying it was Plo Koon? Well, that ruse continued in The Book of Boba Fett, to almost absurd levels. Ahsoka Tano herself, Rosario Dawson, confirmed that she didn’t know she was acting with Luke Skywalker until she walked on the set. They kept the secret for that long. Obviously though, when she found out, she was very excited.

And speaking of Ahsoka secrets, Dave Filoni hints that he knows how big the meeting of she and Luke is and says they can “provide context for each other in a beautiful way.” We’ll see if and when that happens.

Stage, screen, voice-overs—you name it and Mark Hamill has done it. And yet, for the return of Luke Skywalker in The Book of Boba Fett, Hamill says the team used a completely new form of acting: a composite performance.

The documentary gives the Luke Skywalker transformation probably more time than anything else, and it’s better to see it than me to describe it. Basically, though Hamill acted the performance, actor Graham Hamilton also acted the performance (with direction from both Filoni and Hamill), and all were filmed with a special camera rig that captured it with multiple angles. Then, digital effects were blended with deep fake techniques to create the final image.

Again, this section is excellent and you should check it out. It runs for about six minutes beginning around the 44-minute mark.

Cad Bane makes his live-action debut in The Book of Boba Fett and it’s revealed that getting the hat just right was way more difficult than the face. Filoni explains that George Lucas, who created the character, saw Cad Bane as the Lee Van Cleef to Boba Fett’s Clint Eastwood, and so when it comes to cowboys, the hat is key.

The filmmakers wanted Grogu to seem like he learned something by the end of The Book of Boba Fett. So, when he steps up to calm the Rancor in the finale, they reveal it’s the first time Grogu ever uses the Force without closing his eyes. It’s a subtle sign that his powers have evolved.

In the end, Jon Favreau says that The Book of Boba Fett is about a man who never had a family finding a family, losing it, and then finding another. Which, if you go back to the beginning of this slideshow, isn’t a story you could tell with straightforward bounty hunting.

It’s a fleeting moment but for a brief second in the documentary, you see Luke Skywalker (along with Boba Fett, Fennic Shand, and Happy Hogan) finally coming back to Jabba’s Palace, all these years after saving his friends there. Which we just found really cool.

Disney Gallery: Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett is now on Disney+

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