Temuera Morrison, the actor behind Boba Fett in The Mandalorian, was waiting for Lucasfilm to ask him to return after Disney started making Star Wars movies.
Last week’s episode of The Mandalorian was a big one. The episode saw the exciting return of Boba Fett but far more than just the cameo in episode one of season two. This time he was heavily involved in the action-packed episode with lots of drama and reveals.
Temuera Morrison has reprised the role he has previously voiced, having also played Jango Fett – Boba’s clone and father – in the prequel trilogy. Speaking to The New York Times, Morrison says he had been waiting for Lucasfilm to give him a call since they went ahead with the new Star Wars movies:
“There was a lot of stuff online about a possible Star Wars bounty-hunter film, and then I was watching all the new Star Wars movies coming out, wondering if they were ever going to do anything with Jango Fett. My agent and I had a number of discussions — when are they going to call me? But then I kept forgetting about it. In this day and age, they have a number of options. They could have called other people to play the part. They can go with a fresh face. They could have called the Rock. I felt so grateful that after all this time, something came to be.”
The day finally came when Jon Favreau gave him a call: “I wasn’t even quite sure what The Mandalorian was about, but I kind of knew that Jango and Boba had their own Mandalorian history. At the time, I was in Los Angeles, meeting on another film, so I was pleasantly surprised to get the call. I actually got to the meeting quite early — I was so excited I got there about two hours early — and there were conceptual drawings on the wall. I saw an image that looked like me, and I said, I’m sure that’s me. But even then, I didn’t want to get too excited.”
Thankfully it all worked out for Morrison. Boba Fett is back with a vengeance and has even reclaimed his armour. It will be exciting to see his team-up with Din in the next two episodes as they look to rescue Grogu from Moff Gideon.
The Mandalorian season two sees the returning Pedro Pascal (Din Djarin), Gina Carano (Cara Dune), Carl Weathers (Greef Karga), Giancarlo Esposito (Moff Gideon), Bill Burr (Mayfield), and Ming-Na Wen (Fennec Shand) joined by the likes of Temuera Morrison (Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones), Katee Sackhoff (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Michael Biehn (The Terminator), Rosario Dawson (Daredevil), and WWE Superstar Sasha Banks.
The Mandalorian season two airs on Fridays on Disney+.