Star Wars Episode VII

Star Wars Episode VII (7), also known as “The Force Awakens,” is directed by J.J. Abrams and written by “Empire” co-writer Lawrence Kasdan.

SPOILERS AHEAD

This exclusive “Fett Fact Check” is our own repository of what we learn, when we learn it. We’re both logging and analyzing Boba Fett-specific confirmations and rumors — each with date and original attribution. Below are our findings, sorted from newest to oldest:

• December 23, 2015

  Forbes has a “recap” article about fan theories. One of them is that Snoke is Boba Fett. We’ve found many tweets about this prior to the 23rd, but the first tweet appears to be on December 8, 2015. (We’ll keep hearing this one as far as August 2016 at least — and we’ll keep making a joke about it.)

• December 17, 2015

  “The Force Awakens” has officially premiered worldwide. Boba Fett is not in the film. Here are all of the rumors addressed: The castle is a cantina-style spot that just happens to have Mandalorian symbols on flags outside, but no clear Mandalorians inside. Max von Sydow is clearly a different character. The Knights of Ren are shown very quickly in a montage without clear close-ups of the character on the left with perhaps a Mandalorian helmet.

• October 20, 2015

  An overly blurry image begins to circulate today on social media that appears to be a Mandalorian-like helmet (or as some like to presume, Boba Fett) within a shot of Kylo Ren’s Knights of Ren. We looked at the official trailer and compared the image frame side by side. We believe that this is not Boba Fett and not necessarily a Mandalorian helmet, but just something similar.

• October 19, 2015

  The final official trailer for “The Force Awakens” features a one-second shot where Boba Fett’s shoulder symbol is clearly visible in the top center of the shot. To the left is also a 45-degree shifted edge of Boba Fett’s chest symbol. Especially in a shot with Han Solo, this confirmed at least a slight “easter egg” reference to Fett and/or Mandalorians. (Boba Fett would be approximately 66 if he appears at all in the film.)

• May 7, 2015

  MoviePilot claims to now insist that they know Max von Sydow is Boba Fett. The article goes on to elaborate that we do not first know it’s Fett, but it’s revealed in the film that he has cybernetic repairs to his body due to being in the Sarlacc. While this sounds interesting, so does fan fiction. Their unidentified source seems like a stretch, validated by knowing before who the main actor would be. Furthermore, the switch from New Zealand actors Daniel Logan (Young Boba Fett) and/or Temuera Morrison (Jango Fett) over to Max Von Sydow would “retcon” (retroactive continuity) the Star Wars universe, which has been shut down nowadays by Lucasfilm having an official Story Group in charge of continuity. We’ve decided to not cover this rumor in a dedicated article, although want to note that this is the second “flare up” of this rumor going viral since it originated last December. Finally, as if to suggest this was all a rouse, MoviePilot appears to have taken their own article offline!

• March 12, 2015

  Regarding Episode 8 (VII), Lucasfilm confirmed on StarWars.com that Rian Johnson is the director of Episode VII, which was also rumored; see our Spin-Off Film(s) “Fett Fact Check” page for more announcements on this day, including “Rogue One.”

• December 29, 2014

  Various blogs begin to speculate if Max von Sydow (who is confirmed in the cast of the film) plays Boba Fett in the film, which is not confirmed. It’s unclear to us where exactly this rumor originated, but we can see it spread quickly according to this date-specific filter of Google News headlines. Due to such speculation, and no bold “confirmation” headlines, we chose not to report this at the time.

• December 2, 2014

  4chan user by the name of “SpoilerMan” posts a thread of plot points under the introduction that he’s read the script via a source inside Lucasfilm. Boba Fett is mentioned. We reported this in Episode 7 Rumor: Boba Fett Appearance Mentioned in Possible “SpoilerMan” Leak. No official response on the possible leak.

• March 17, 2014

  The film takes place “about 30 years after the events” of Return of the Jedi, confirmed by StarWars.com.

• October 24, 2013

  Lawrence Kasdan, who wrote The Empire Strikes Back, is the confirmed screenwriter, according to StarWars.com. Kasdan replaces Michael Arndt, who was originally hired to write the screenplay (and may or may not get a co-written credit depending on the state of the draft).

• August 22, 2013

  This very site confirmed first that Dan Mindel ASC is shooting the film on Kodak film stock, as told at an American Society of Cinematographers event in Los Angeles.