Well, the Star Wars rumor mill just keeps on turning. For a while now, people have been wondering who veteran actor Max von Sydow will be playing but no one’s had a concrete answer. The biggest rumor has simply been that he’s someone we’ve met before and that he may appear on Jakku. Today, the Nerdist is posting an interesting rumor that may shed some light on that discussion.
*POSSIBLE SPOILERS BELOW*
So… Max von Sydow is playing Boba Fett?
Well, he might be playing Boba Fett. Let’s not jump the blaster rifle here. There have been plenty of other rumors about Sydow’s character that are completely different. It’s an interesting idea, however.
How old would Boba Fett be anyway?
Boba was born shortly after The Phantom Menace, which is 32 years before A New Hope. Return of the Jedi is 4 years after A New Hope. And The Force Awakens is roughly 30 years after Return of the Jedi. So, if the math is correct, that should make Boba Fett a little less than 70 years old. Max von Sydow is 86, so if he is Boba Fett they’d be aging him up a bit, assuming this Boba Fett is the same one from the Prequels.
Wait, didn’t Boba Fett die in Return of the Jedi?
It’s widely accepted Fett crawled out of the Sarlacc pit before anything could really happen to him. After all, he’s too bad ass to go down like that.
What role would he play in the movie?
According to the Nerdist, Fett would no longer be wearing his armor and his identity would be hidden through cybernetic modifications due to his injuries escaping from the Sarlacc. The Nerdist also claims we wouldn’t discover Fett’s true identity until the third act.
What’s the likelihood this rumor will be true?
Honestly, it could go either way… but it also seems unlikely if you think about it. The simple fact of the matter is that while Boba Fett is popular with Star Wars fans, he’s not nearly as widely known to the general public as a character like Darth Vader. If they do want to hinge a big third act twist on someone being Boba Fett, it would probably go over a lot of people’s heads.
The big question is: What would Max Von Sydow being Boba Fett add to the movie? Given what we know of the film, it doesn’t seem like Boba Fett really has anything to add to the narrative. What would he want? In the films, Boba Fett hasn’t had a very deep characterization other than missing his father and wanting to bring Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt. It seems our characters already have enough trouble dodging Kylo Ren, Captain Phasma, and The First Order… so adding Boba Fett may be one plotline too many.
On the other hand, the rumor is the second Anthology film is a Boba Fett movie, so it could be possible they want to bring the character back in the public eye. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Boba Fett is a mandalorian, he does not exist in the Star Wars universe without his armor.