Why The Mandalorian Fans Are Worried About Boba Fett's Survival

Contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 2, episode 6 — "Chapter 14: The Tragedy"

In this week's episode of The Mandalorian, entitled "Chapter 14: The Tragedy," Mando (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu face more than one tragedy on the planet of Tython. While they are successful in Grogu connecting to the seeing stone, it comes at a huge loss. As Grogu uses his abilities to search for Jedi who can help him and his Mandalorian caretaker, Mando encounters Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and a revived Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen). After saving Shand from the wound she suffered in season 1, Boba hires her to help him get his armor back from Mando.

Though Mando doesn't believe Boba's claims about his father being a Mandalorian foundling, he relents when Shand and Boba threaten Grogu. Of course, even that can't go smoothly, as they're interrupted by the arrival of stormtroopers. Mando rushes to retrieve Grogu but can't get through the seeing stone's force field; luckily, an armored Boba and Shand defeat the stormtroopers, and all seems okay. Then, the Empire fully arrives when Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) shows up. He uses his ship to destroy Mando's, the Razor Crest – completely destroying it where it rests. Even worse, Gideon's Dark Troopers take the exhausted Grogu to Gideon's ship, all while Mando looks on, helpless. 

What's next, then? As fans speculate how Mando and his new allies will manage to get Grogu back on the next episode of The Mandalorian, others have begun to consider Boba's fate, and how it might be tied to Mando's destroyed ship.

Now that Mando's ship is ashes, he has to rely on Boba to help him rescue Grogu. While Boba may be able to shuttle Mando around short term, there's still the question of where Mando will get a ship after. In a post on Reddit lamenting the demise of the Razor Crest, fans speculate that Boba might be the solution to Mando's problem. A good thing for Mando, sure, but if these theories are correct, Boba's future isn't looking so great. 

Both u/ArchetypicalDegen and u/Screamerjoe theorize that Boba will die so that Mando can inherit his ship, Slave I. Not a very positive prediction, but Star Wars isn't one to shy away from brutal deaths (obvious in the sudden decimation of the recently fixed Razor Crest). It would also be fitting for Mando to take the bounty hunter's ship as his own, from one great warrior to another. 

On the other hand, fans pointed out that Boba has another ship, Slave II, so he could be safe from any life-for-ship trade-offs. However, given that it's only mentioned in books like The Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels and Dark Empire Sourcebook, which were published during the Star Wars Legends era, it's unclear if Slave II is even canon. 

Nevertheless, don't lose all hope for Boba yet. The fans' theory of Boba's death is only one option of what could happen next on The Mandalorian, and with two episodes left in the current season, there's bound to be plenty more surprises.