Releasing The Book of Boba Fett so immediately after the second season finale and post-credits tease of The Mandalorian has its upsides and downsides. Perhaps the most substantial stumbling block is how easy it has been to watch fan reactions to the new show and compare it to the hype for the adventures of Mando and The Child.
Some analysts labeled The Mandalorian the most in-demand streaming series of last year, an accolade that Book of Boba Fett has not approached. While both shows are undoubtedly popular, the ongoing series has struggled to fill the armored boots of its predecessors, because it never should have tried to fill the same space.
These two series are extremely similar. They share a tone, anesthetic, and a significant percentage of cast and crew. The Book of Boba Fett, despite being in the works for decades, could be most accurately described as a spin-off of The Mandalorian. Somehow, over the years, the iconic and fan-favorite character's long-awaited solo project was usurped by something totally different. This flies in the face of the standard operating procedure of Disney's take on the Star Wars franchise. There's a lesson in this ongoing event, but it's a lesson that the franchise has refused to learn before and will refuse to learn again now. The fact is, The Mandalorian did something that nothing in the franchise has accomplished in years and so far, The Book of Boba Fett is a massive step backward.
Star Wars has been a pop-culture empire for longer than most of its fans have been alive. The awful truth of the franchise is that, depending on personal taste, there are more bad entries than there are good ones. The Mandalorian was a groundbreaking moment for Star Wars, a new horizon that was universally beloved among fans and free from the divisiveness of the modern trilogy.
It accomplished this feat through stunningly simple means; The Mandalorian is the first Star Wars project in years that's entirely original. It isn't relying on a beloved character's name recognition, it's not something people have been demanding for decades, and its entire presentation is brand new to the franchise. The Mandalorian takes the novel approach of creating new characters and letting them have their own adventure in the beloved galaxy far away. The Book of Boba Fett falls prey to almost every trap that The Mandalorian wisely avoided.
The Book of Boba Fett is the culmination of multiple failed attempts to give the famed bounty hunter a solo project. Boba Fett was a minor character in the original trilogy who attained a new life as a fan favorite thanks to his excellent design, fun role in the narrative, and mysterious presence. Unfortunately, no mystery can exist in a blockbuster franchise today, at least not for long. As the movies and series must march on, Star Wars falls back more and more on characters they already know have established fanbases.
To avoid retreading old ground, they have dramatized every moment of a character's life, and eventually, even that runs out. Han Solo already had his solo project. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, and even Rogue One side character Cassian Andor are on their way to the same dubious honor. These projects are often solid, and they will likely continue to be good in the future, but even when they succeed, they don't inspire.
A full half of The Book of Boba Fett is given over to settling the canon fate of the character after the events of Return of the Jedi. Even though the show does introduce new characters and concepts on occasion, it is dominated by callbacks and old news. It takes place almost entirely on the franchise's favorite planet Tatooine, most of its main cast consists of returning characters, and the whole piece feels bizarrely done before. Even its space-western aesthetic is borrowed from the show it spun off from. That series clearly provided the bones for the Book of Boba Fett, and it also provided a clear lesson of how shows like this can go wrong.
The most controversial point of The Mandalorian comes at the end of season 2 when the series reintroduces old characters to a previously original narrative. Suddenly Din Djarin and his entourage of ragtag space criminals are standing by while Boba Fett and Luke Skywalker become the major draw. This is probably the biggest misstep the series makes, but throughout its first season and most of its second, it's dedicated to being original.
Whenever Disney doesn't know what to do with Star Wars, it runs back to the comfort zone of recognizable characters and "remember this" fanservice. With The Mandalorian, Favreau and company created a groundbreaking story that enthralled fans and made a new name for itself within the beloved franchise. The Book of Boba Fett retread that ground and added in a mountain of overdone callbacks. It should be clear why the new series simply can't live up to the show that spawned it.