Is There Room for Boba Fett in Clone Wars?

What can make a cool Star Wars show even cooler? Add Boba Fett. At least that looks like the strategy that Lucasfilm is using to bring in more viewers for the conclusion of Season 2 of The Clone Wars. As a fan of the Star Wars Expanded Universe of course my first thought was, "Oh no, what EU story are they going to disregard this time?" Don't get me wrong. I love The Clone Wars series...for the most part, and I understand that it will not always fit in with the existing EU stories. With George Lucas so involved it is to be expected that the EU will be trod upon. He doesn't even know half of the stuff exists and frankly he doesn't care. Thank goodness for Dave Filoni (a self-admitted EU fan) for throwing some EU bones at us here and there. We will have to wait for the conclusion of the Clone Wars series to see how they will reconcile some major conflicts in continuity. I'm sure efforts will be made with some creative retconning.

For now though I wanted to take a look at what we do know about Boba Fett at this point in galactic history. Is his inclusion in the Clone Wars series something that can work with existing continuity?

Most of what we know about Boba Fett after the Battle of Geonosis and before the events of Revenge of the Sith can be found in the six Boba Fett young readers novels written by Terry Bisson and Elizabeth Hand. Here is a brief summary of the events of those novels.

- Boba Fett is about 10 years old at the time of Jango's death

- After his father's death Boba takes the Madalorian armor and buries his father

- Jango left instructions for his son to seek out Jabba the Hutt and Count Dooku

- Aurra Sing helps Boba but then captures him and takes him to Count Dooku

- About a month after the Battle of Geonosis the clones invade Dooku's base at Raxus Prime and Boba is taken by the clones

- Boba is taken to Cloud City to find foster parents but escapes. Aurra Sing once again finds him and tries to swindle him for his dad's money

- Boba escapes from her again and sets out on his own to find Jabba

- Only 2 months after the Battle of Geonosis, Boba finds Jabba the Hutt. At this time he has Jango's armor resized to fit his smaller frame. Jabba hires him along with Durge (of Dark Horse comics and Genndy animated series fame) to kill someone. Boba returns to Jabba victorious

- Boba works for Jabba for a couple years and then gets an assignment to kill Wat Tambor. At this time he would be about 12 years old.

- While trying to get Tambor, Boba has a run in with General Grievous on Xagobah. Grievous defeats him and Boba fakes his death

- While leaving Xagobah, Fett has a brief dogfight with Asajj Ventress. With unexpected assistance from Anakin Skywalker, Fett is able to survive this encounter.

- Anakin convinces Fett to go to Coruscant and share some vital information he has with the Republic

- While on Coruscant Fett has a run in with Mace Windu and they have a brief battle. The fight is stopped by Chancellor Palpatine.

- Palpatine hints to Fett about his plans for the clones and pays Fett a large amount of money to keep quiet

- These events lead up to the events of the Revenge of the Sith

So the two years of Boba's life between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith are pretty well chronicled. The writers made sure he encountered a Who's Who list of Star Wars characters including Anakin, Windu, Ventress, Grievous, Jabba, Aurra Sing and others. Depending on the scope of the story they are planning to tell in The Clone Wars it could be tough to fit into the stories that are already out there. Here are a couple thoughts

In the trailer it looks like he is not wearing the armor yet. In my mind this is a good thing. I never liked the idea of a 12 year old Fett running around in Mando armor. He would look pretty ridiculous in that armor and not too intimidating. In the books Boba does have Jango's armor resized to fit him but my guess is we will not see him don the armor in Clone Wars

In at least one picture released from the Clone Wars we see Boba wearing what looks like clone armor on his knees. Maybe he got these "kneepads" from the clones who rescued him from Raxus Prime?

The trailer also shows Boba working with Aurra Sing. In a panel at a recent
convention it was explained that Sing was taking on the role of Boba's mentor. In the existing storyline from the books Boba and Sing do spend some time together, most notably in the book Maze of Deception. I almost wonder if Filoni is aware of this and put that detail into the story as a nod to the EU fans. It seems like quite a coincidence.

Where this story will fit in exactly will be easier to determine after we see the
episode. The timing does seem to be off right from the start though. According to an online article from TV Guide Magazine, Boba Fett will be 12 years old in his appearance on Clone Wars. In the Boba Fett books Fett is already in the employ of Jabba the Hutt and has collected some bounties by the time he is 12. He is already wearing the armor too. So in the books he is already an experienced Bounty Hunter at 12 but the
Clone Wars show seems to be portraying him as a bounty hunter in training under the tutelage of Aurra Sing. In the books he had his time with Aurra Sing when he was more like 10 and had left her behind at that time.

If he is twelve years old this means the events of the episodes he is in would have to take place toward the end of the Clone Wars. He was 10 at the end of Attack of the Clones and the Clone Wars apparently last less than 3 years.

Some elements in the trailer or from info that has been released that seems similar to the Expanded Universe

- In a panel Jamie King (voice of Aurra Sing) says of Slave 1 "I get to fly it. It's my ship now." In the books Sing is given Slave 1 as a reward for delivering Fett to Dooku

- In the trailer for the season finale you can briefly see a clone with Boba that looks to be the same age as Boba. In the books Boba does have an encounter with a clone of his age called CT-9779

- In the trailer you see a few shots of Aurra Sing on a speeder bike or swoop. In the Dark Horse comics Sing has a customized swoop she uses while hunting a Jedi on Tatooine

So is there room for Fett in Clone Wars? Sure. Why not? There is always room for some Fett. Will it be able to fit in with existing Star Wars continuity? No. Not without some retcon. But we are starting to get used to that by now.

-AG