James Mangold Describes His Shelved 2018 Boba Fett Film

“I was probably making much more of a borderline rated R, single planet spaghetti Western [Boba Fett film]. … I’m not sure it ever would have happened,” director James Mangold told podcaster Josh Horowitz in a new interview released today.

Back in 2018, The Hollywood Reporter had the scoop that the rumored “standalone” Boba Fett feature film was to be directed by Mangold, who had recently done the R-rated Wolverine film “Logan.”

At the time, Mangold tweeted in 2018 that the news was “gossip,” which at the time seemed to debunk the story. In 2020, he tweeted again that the film was never announced and that he wished he made a Boba Fett film.

Fast forward to today, Mangold in his own words confirmed the original story. In recent weeks, multiple outlets circulated similar news but without any actual quotes from Mangold besides that he generally speaking “flirted with” a Boba Fett film. The story changed with today’s interview — complete with video.

It’s unclear how far along he was in the process. In the Josh Horowitz interview, the lackluster box office results from “Solo” may have led to the shelving of the project, which in turn came from the lukewarm reception of “The Last Jedi”. Years later, “The Mandalorian” from Jon Favreau would of course become the avenue for a Fett-like character via streaming and then eventually his return in Season 2 plus his own original series, “The Book of Boba Fett.”

Mangold just recently directed the final “Indiana Jones” movie and was recently confirmed by Lucasfilm to work on a Star Wars project set in a very different time period, sans Boba Fett.