The Book of Boba Fett, which streams new episodes each Wednesday on Disney+, follows the character who made his official return to the Star Wars universe during Season 2 of The Mandalorian. The series tracks both past and present timelines for the titular bounty hunter, played by Temuera Morrison (who previously inhabited the role of clone Jango Fett in the prequel movies), as he's revealed to have survived his fate falling into the Sarlacc pit during the events of Return of the Jedi and is now poised to become a major player in the Tatooine crime world, inhabiting the throne once owned by Jabba the Hutt. The Disney+ show also stars Ming-Na Wen as Boba's loyal right-hand and master assassin Fennec Shand, as well as Matt Berry, David Pasquesi, Jennifer Beals, and Sophie Thatcher. The series hails from creator Jon Favreau, who executive produces alongside Dave Filoni, Robert Rodriguez, Kathleen Kennedy, and Colin Wilson.
Collider had the chance to speak with both Morrison and Wen after the premiere of last week's episode, "Chapter 2: The Tribes of Tatooine." Over the course of the brief interview, which you can read below, the co-stars discussed when they first learned they'd be returning to the world of Star Wars in their own spinoff series, what the fan response has been like, and how they don't want to take anything for granted in terms of this small-screen opportunity.
Collider: For both of you, when did you first learn that there was going to be a spinoff involving your characters, and what were you most looking forward to exploring as part of that?
MING-NA WEN: I'm always surprised that I've come as far as I have in my career because I never, I'm always the last to know. So I just thought I was signing on as a series regular for Mandalorian. And I came on set and found out that I was actually in my own spinoff project, The Book of Boba Fett. And so that was a really great surprise. And I was thrilled. Everybody laughed at me, but it was a good laugh. Tem didn't, though. Tem had to set me straight.
TEMUERA MORRISON: She was so funny. Ming didn't realize she was doing her own series. Halfway through the show, she goes, "Oh really? Really? Oh my God."
WEN: No wonder the stories were so good.
MORRISON: Yeah, but I got a wonderful or I had a wonderful — happened to be in Los Angeles at the time, looking for a job, I think. And I was doing the circuit as we try and do in LA. And a meeting with Jon Favreau had came up. And immediately, I thought, "This is a good meeting." So I got there three hours early and Dave Filoni was there, so we had a little bit of a chat. But when I went into their room, I could see the concept drawings. So it was a buzz just to see that and confirming that they were going to have me. So Jon eventually turned up and gave me the outline, "This is what we're going to be doing."
And I must say, he's a man of his word, and everything's come to fruition in terms of The Book of Boba Fett series that we shot. And yeah, for us, we were just dealing with the run-of-the-mill stuff. We go to work and we work hard now with the COVID restrictions. So there's no time for drama tensions or things like that. It's just all about the work. And we had a wonderful crew, a wonderful support unit. So it was just a wonderful opportunity to be involved with this whole thing.
And again, yeah, I don't take anything for granted these days because our business, as you well know, it's always up and down. You're in the papers, you're in the magazines one month and then you're in the fish and chips shop the next month, where people are reading about you and all the old news. So it's good. It's good to be simmering at the moment. Simmering with heat.
Well, the good news is plenty of people are talking about the show.
WEN: I'm happy. We worked so hard and we both, not just us, but the entire crew, everyone, we all love the show so much. So it's nice when the response has been positive. We're very grateful.
The Book of Boba Fett premieres with new episodes each Wednesday, exclusively on Disney+.