'Book Of Boba Fett' Reveals Another Survivor From Jabba's Barge Destruction
The Book of Boba Fett opened with its first episode, Stranger in a Strange Land, on Wednesday, taking the audience into the story of Boba Fett's escape from the sarlacc pit, his torture at the hands of Tusken Raiders, and establishing his criminal empire in the wake of Bib Fortuna's death. These events take place within the timeline of The Mandalorian, with flashbacks reaching back five years, to directly after the events of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. While scenes of the area near the sarlacc pit depict the lifeless ruins of Jabba the Hutt's sail barge, and the carnage left in the aftermath of the rescue of Han Solo, a later scene in the episode reveals that a notable character from Return of the Jedi, present on the barge, survived the explosion.
As Boba Fett, the newest crime lord of Tatooine, and Fennec Shand visit the Sanctuary, Garsa Fwip's cantina in Mos Espa, the audience is treated to a scene reminiscent of A New Hope with a familiar rendition of the classic cantina band music and full-house crowd. While most faces appeared to be unfamiliar, one stood out as none other than Max Rebo, the blue elephant-like leader of the band at Jabba's Palace. It appears that the unique alien creature escaped the destruction of the sail barge and formed a new band, performing for the patrons of Fwip's cantina, the Sanctuary.
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The Ortolan was a master of the red ball jett organ, which he played with his feet, and was last seen playing with his fellow bandmates on Jabba's sail barge moments before the purported execution of Luke Skywalker and his compatriots. The scene in The Book of Boba Fett, however, depicted him playing his instrument alongside a Bith guitar player and an astromech drummer, hinting that while he was lucky enough to survive the encounter, his old bandmates likely did not make it out of the skirmish alive.
While Max Rebo's cinematic appearances were limited to Return of the Jedi and The Book of Boba Fett, there were several mentions of him in the Star Wars universe, appearing periodically on background posters throughout The Clone Wars and Rebels TV series. The ortolan's story was also told in Issue #13 of the Star Wars Adventures comic series. There, Max was introduced to readers as a Jizz-style musician making a living by performing for Jabba, and had a somewhat trouble-making brother named Azool Phantelle. Due to the latter's actions of swindling Mos Eisley inhabitants within Jabba's territory, Azool was caught up in a messy speeder bike chase, and was punished into becoming a waiter serving drinks on Jabba's sail barge (which we now know was named the Khetanna). While Azool was fortunate to be spared, due to his relation to Max Rebo, his fate after the destruction of the sail barge remains unknown.
Despite only being a minor background character, the cameo addition of Max Rebo in The Book of Boba Fett certainly added a dash of nostalgia to the series, supplementing the series' main theme of connecting the post-Return of the Jedi events to the modern Star Wars timeline. Importantly, it is the broad range of background characters like Max Rebo that creates a holistic experience of the galaxy far, far away, making Star Wars much more than the ordinary hero versus villain story, but a deeply interconnected universe.
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Source(s): CBR.com, Wookieepedia