What Boba Fett And Cad Bane's Scrapped Showdown Can Tell Us About The Future Of ‘Star Wars’
From their interaction in The Book of Boba Fett, it is clear that Boba and the notorious bounty hunter Cad Bane have history. Cad Bane first appeared in The Clone Wars Season 4 Episode 15 "Deception" with a then-teenaged Boba when both of them were in prison together. Cad Bane bribed Boba to start a fight with an undercover Obi-Wan Kenobi. However, the most interesting story between these two characters has yet to be seen onscreen.
In the scrapped Clone Wars arc that we now refer to as "The Bounty Hunter Arc," Cad Bane played a mentor role to the fledgling young bounty hunter Boba. Some could argue that he acted as a substitute father figure, as Cad had known and possibly worked with Jango Fett in the past.
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Dave Filoni, the executive producer of The Book of Boba Fett and writer/director of The Clone Wars, mentioned at Star Wars Celebration Orlando in 2017 at the “Animated Origins and Unexpected Fates” panel:
"We did this really cool story arc where basically the premise is Cad Bane teaches Boba Fett how to be a real bounty hunter."
He also revealed a video with unfinished animation (but fully voiced) presenting the showdown between the young Boba and Cad that was to appear in this arc. As the audience watched the clip on the projectors, they erupted into cheers when they realized what they were watching. This was the scene in which Boba Fett got his iconic helmet dent.
While we may not see this story in The Clone Wars, we did get a very similar story in the season finale of The Book of Boba Fett. Both stories took place on Tatooine, involved a tribe of Tusken Raiders, and ended in a Western-style standoff between the two characters. Even the cinematography was the same. This was evident in the close-ups of Cad Bane and Boba Fett slowly reaching for their weapons and staring each other down, and how they both lose their respective hat and helmet.
This does not mean that we will not see this storyline in the future. In fact, Star Wars has a history of foreshadowing stories they are about to bring back after years of fan excitement and mirroring important fights between characters (like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Maul). What we saw in The Book of Boba Fett made it even more likely that we may well soon see this story play out on screen.
Dave Filoni referred to this arc about Boba Fett and Cad Bane at "The Untold Clone Wars" panel at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim in 2015:
"Well, something Pablo and I do quite a bit is we try to find a home for some of these stories."
Pablo Hidalgo, a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group, added:
"We're always looking at it, always trying to figure out when the time might be right to revisit some of these ideas."
Even though we did not see the particular duel in the past play out, we know that the previous showdown between the two certainly set the tone for the rest of their relationship leading up to this seemingly final showdown. Boba kept the dent ins his helmet for years after the altercation, presumably as a reminder, even though he has spruced up the rest of his armor.
When Cad and Boba have their final showdown in The Book of Boba Fett season finale, Cad puts on the air of a disapproving and gruff father who wanted his son to be the best bounty hunter he could be, but the boy's kind heart made him weak in his eyes. Boba, on the other hand, sounds like a boy who became a man. He was a boy who had spent years trying to live up to his real father's image, and along the way tried to please his substitute father (in this case, Cad). In the end, he realized that he did not have to put up with it. The only way to prove to Cad that he was wrong and that his kindness had not made him weak was by killing his father figure, who has now become his adversary.
Patricide does have a long history in Star Wars, and this is not exactly a new dynamic when it comes to these situations either. When we do finally see this story play out in full, and we go back to watch these two episodes of The Book of Boba Fett again, we will be seeing their relationship in a whole new light.
Regardless of when we finally get to watch this story unfold, it just feels so Star Wars to bring back a beloved animated character and give him a well-deserved sendoff (or a second chance, if you think Cad is still alive). This has opened up chatter and driven interest toward the character by teasing his rich backstory with Boba Fett while using old unfinished stories that George Lucas worked on.
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Source(s): Star Wars.com, YouTube [1] [2]