Movies - TV
Star Wars’ Famous Mandalorian Armor Wasn’t Always Meant For Boba Fett
By TYLER LLEWYN TAING
Boba Fett’s T-shaped visor helmet, the intricate shapes of his weaponry and toolset, his dark green and black color palette, and his jetpack, all made him a popular action figure. For the 40th anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back,” StarWars.com published an interview with visual effects art director Joe Johnston, who revealed that Boba Fett's design had an unlikely origin.
Johnston told StarWars.com, “The original idea behind Boba Fett was that he was going to be an army of super troopers. There was going to be 40,000 of these guys.” However, producer Gary Kurtz was mindful of the film’s budget goals and said 40,000 super troopers wasn’t doable, so George Lucas left the “super trooper” design behind on the cutting room floor.
Lucas eventually found another chance to repurpose the design later in the film and figured out a character with enough edge to match the rough edges. Johnston added, "The outfit came back from the UK [production office] and George said, 'Instead of an army of super troopers, this is going to be a war bounty hunter.” They then developed the character, and Boba Fett was born.