Oh, boy. I am about to ruffle some feathers.

There are a lot of things that annoy me about the prequels, but one of my biggest issues with them is the shoe-horning of popular characters from the original series. Don’t get me wrong; using recognizable fan-favorites is a great promotional tool, and when it’s done well (see Free Guy), it’s inspiring and possibly hilarious (if that is what you’re going for, obviously). But when it causes you to have to go back and “fix” your original creation so it can at least seem plausible? That’s when I get irritated as both a writer and a fan.

Now, I just don’t really get the hype behind Boba Fett, especially from the people who had only seen the original trilogy. I mean, sure, he’s cool (and honestly, now that The Mandalorian reintroduced him and he’s taken over Jabba’s palace?? he’s even cooler), but he was just this guy who followed Han Solo around and then got swallowed by a sarlacc. I was honestly more of a fan of the Mandalorians from The Clone Wars series and Canderous Ordo from Knights of the Old Republic. But I digress.

I’m not sure what made Lucas decide that Boba needed to be included in the larger narrative, but it happened, and what we got was … a bloodthirsty little shit? Apparently, George did not know how to write women or children.

What I would have liked to have seen happen was for George to have a bit of creativity here. One option would be for Jango to still be the source clone, and he could still be a Mandalorian. His goal, though, would be to restore the warrior honor of his people by trying to create the perfect Mandalorian soldiers, only working with the Separatists to build his army to seize control from Sabine. After one side or the other wins (it doesn’t really matter who, since Palpatine is in power either way), this army of clones becomes an enemy of the state, having been revealed to have the sole purpose of spreading a Mandalorian empire, thus resulting in their destruction and furthering the Mandalorian diaspora that we see in The Mandalorian. Another alternative would have the clones be of the Jedi: there was a shortage of Force-sensitive warriors, but as they become further removed from their initial source, they begin their own campaign for autonomy, therefore again resulting in their destruction and seeding distrust in the Jedi as a whole, forcing them into hiding like they are at the beginning of A New Hope. The entire galaxy, after fighting a brutal war for years, would then want to unite under Palpatine, still promoting strength and safety.

These are just a few of the ideas I came up with off the top of my head, and even though they aren’t great, I still feel like I would have been more invested in the clones without the random Boba Fett connection.

Art Credit: 99 Designs, Manny Llamas