James Mangold's Canceled Boba Fett Project Was A 'Borderline Rated-R Spaghetti Western'

Before Disney and Lucasfilm shifted their focus to the Disney+ streaming service, fans were getting a steady stream of "Star Wars" movies. Sequel trilogy entries and spin-off titles under the "A Star Wars Story" banner were popping up at the cinema on a consistent basis, making the storytelling potential of the franchise feel limitless. Thus, as part of this big screen initiative, tentative plans were in place for director James Mangold to direct a Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) film — a project he has shared would've likely carried an R-rating and resembled a spaghetti western.

"The world would never be able to embrace Baby Yoda if I had made that," Mangold said with a laugh during an appearance on the "Happy, Sad, Confused" podcast. He notes that the story would've remained pretty grounded on a single planet and wouldn't have been for the faint of heart. Sadly, Mangold recalls that after the disastrous release of "Solo: A Star Wars Story" and Disney's shift in focus to streaming, the production fell by the wayside. With that, all of his nights working on the script while listening to the great Ennio Morricone were for nothing.

Thankfully, things turned out alright for both Fett and Mangold. The iconic bounty hunter returned on "The Mandalorian" and for his own series, "The Book of Boba Fett," and Mangold is up to helm a different "Star Wars" endeavor.

As titles like "Ahsoka," "The Acolyte," and "Star Wars: Visions" maintain the "Star Wars" franchise's presence on the small screen, Lucasfilm is once again preparing to bring the galaxy far, far away back to the movies. The film that has gotten the most press since its announcement is the one led by Daisy Ridley, which will explore what her character, Rey Skywalker, has been up to after the events of "Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker." Meanwhile, James Mangold is also hard at work on a film that will further expand this new "Star Wars" timeline.

To say that Mangold seeks to explore new frontiers in the "Star Wars" galaxy would be an understatement. His feature is reportedly set roughly 25,000 years before the events of the Skywalker saga and will delve into the origins of the Jedi. Otherwise, we don't have any further details on what the movie will entail, though it stands to reason it will look and feel much different than his Boba Fett film treatment. That is, if Mangold's project manages to avoid joining the many other "Star Wars" movies Lucasfilm has canceled that we would still love to see happen.

James Mangold's "Star Wars" movie currently lacks a release date, though surely it won't be long before that changes as production ramps up.