Solo: A Star Wars Story: Why does Boba Fett get his own movie?

Star Wars fans are displaying mixed emotions about the stand-alone spin-off featuring Boba Fett, directed by James Mangold.

Don’t know who Boba Fett is? You may not be alone.

The masked marauder takes up a slim proportion of screen time. Less than a half hour, to be precise.

Despite his recalcitrance, he’s become something of a cult favourite amongst die-hard Star Wars fans.

Who is Boba Fett?

Boba Fett is, for those who haven’t spent years of their lives diving into the expansive extended universe material, a bounty hunter.

And that’s where it stops.

Jeremy Bulloch, the actor who played him in The Empire Strikes Back, stated that he purposefully hadn’t created a rich backstory for his character, instead opting to be precise and purposeful about the bounty hunter’s stoicism.

Vulture writer Kenneth Lowe says: “People remember Boba Fett precisely because he comes off as tough and stoic, and the great costuming work and intimidating arsenal make him seem like what you’d imagine a space bounty hunter to be.”

The never-ending mining of the Star Wars franchise meant that in time Boba Fett got his own backstory and featured prominently in Star Wars comics, novels, and video games.

Why does Boba Fett get his own movie?

Solo: A Star Wars Story gave audiences a window into young Han, a glimpse of how he got his name and a hint of why he became the cynical antihero we were introduced to in A New Hope.

But Han commanded a huge part of the Star Wars galaxy – and of the hearts of its fans.

Boba Fett barely took up twenty minutes.

Star Wars, whose proprietors Lucasfilm and Disney, seem to be trying to create a cast as wide and complicated as Marvel.

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The problem with Boba Fett? What about all the other characters you could make a spin-off for?

Taking a controversial, bit canon character and giving him two hours of silver-screen time seems like a misstep, and for many Star Wars fans evokes similar anxiety that the ‘prequels’ evoke.

Solo: A Star Wars Story managed to escape the wrath of a particular sliver of fans, a wrath heaped upon The Last Jedi for daring to put its women at the forefront.

The creation of a Boba Fett movie panders to that particular fanbase, ignoring the thirst for heroes like Leia and Rey and Jyn.

Solo: A Star Wars Story saw its first woman of colour on screen in Thandie Newton’s Val, and yet for every step forward Star Wars seems to be taking another two backwards.

Star Wars could have opted to make a solo film for the rave breakout character Enfys Nest, played by Erin Kellyman, a young woman of colour leading a band of rebels against the empire.

Star Wars has a rich and slowly, finally diversifying universe, so to opt for a Boba Fett movie seems like a safe, and stale, bet.

The answer to the question of why Boba Fett gets his own movies seems to be: your guess is as good as anyone else’s.