Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett Teased as “The Mandalorian Season 2.5”

The Mandalorian season 2 not only marked the return of fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett but it also cleared the way for his own spinoff series. Indeed, the final scene of the live-action series’ epic second season concluded with Fett ascending Jabba’s throne on Tatooine, ready to get back to business.

Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen star in the spinoff, which follows the further adventures of Fett and assassin Fennec Shand after their brief stint with Din Djarin and Grogu on The Mandalorian. But while The Book of Boba Fett will serve as the vehicle with which to tell Fett’s own story after the events of Return of the Jedi, it reportedly won’t be completely separate from The Mandalorian universe.

According to a report from Collider, fans should think of The Book of Boba Fett as “The Mandalorian Season 2.5,” and they should also expect characters from the flagship series to appear in the spinoff. The outlet didn’t go into detail as to whom will pop up on Boba Fett, but since both shows deal with the criminal underworld of the Star Wars universe, it’s reasonable to assume that one or two of the usual suspects could guest star alongside Morrison and Wen. I, for one, would love to see Fett spend more time opposite Katee Sackhofff’s Bo-Katan, their clashing Mandalorian philosophies explored further.

If Fett and Shand’s adventure is meant to pick up where The Mandalorian left off, what does this mean for season 3 of Din and Grogu’s story? According to Collider, The Mandalorian season 3 won’t begin filming until the end of this year or early 2022, which means we won’t get to see what happened to Grogu (or how he eventually finds his way back to Din) until late next year. That’s a very long wait.

Meanwhile, The Book of Boba Fett has wrapped filming and is still on schedule to premiere this December. It’ll be followed by two other Star Wars live-action series that are currently in production for a 2022 release — the 12-episode Andor series and the 6-episode Obi-Wan Kenobi. Both take place after the Prequel Trilogy but before A New Hope, with the latter set to reunite Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen in their iconic Star Wars roles.

In fact, Collider reports that one of the reasons The Mandalorian season 3 isn’t going into production sooner is that Obi-Wan Kenobi is currently using the LA stages where the show is filmed. Pascal is also set to star in HBO’s The Last of Us series, which starts filming in Calgary, Canada in July, which means he wouldn’t be available to film The Mandalorian season 3 until later this year anyway.

We’ll keep you updated as we learn more about The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian. For now, check out the complete Star Wars movie and TV release calendar here.