Boba Fett holds court on Tatooine, taking over from crime lord Bib Fortuna, but makes new enemies in the process.

Possibly the greatest surprise in The Mandalorian’s Season 2 finale (most of us had  guessed who the mystery Jedi was going to be) was the announcement of a new series, The Book of Boba Fett. Played by Jango Fett actor Temuera Morrison, we met a new version of the mysterious bounty hunter who’d been immortalised in The Empire Strikes Back and had apparently died in the Sarlacc’s pit in Return of the Jedi. The season finale concluded with Fett and fellow bounty hunter Fennec Shand (Ming Na-Wen) taking control of Jabba the Hutt’s palace on Tatooine, and this is where the new seven-part series begins.

Flitting between Fett’s bacta tank flashbacks of how he survived the assumed death by Sarlacc (and subsequent capture by Tusken Raiders) and his establishment of a new regime under the twin suns of the desert planet, creator/writer Jon Favreau has great fun filling in Fett’s back story while also taking the narrative forward. In addition to Jabba’s palace, there’s countless Star Wars references, from Rodians to Trandoshans to Aqualishians.

Robert Rodriguez (Alita: Battle Angel) directs Favreau’s screenplay, the two standout scenes being a skirmish with underworld assassins in Mos Espa and a battle with a Kraken-like multi-limbed beast in the desert. But for all the bells and whistles, there’s no big reveals or surprises here, or any great indication of how the story will play out. Morrison is a joy to watch, and it pleases me no end that another bald, 60-plus actor is the lead actor of a sci-fi show. Will this series enrich the character or ultimately rob him of his mystique? I’m just thrilled to see him on the screen again and in the hands of people who love legacy Star Wars characters.

Verdict: A fun start, though little is given away. With such a big sandbox to play in, I suspect Favreau has a lot of treats in store for the fans. 7/10

Nick Joy