The Book of Boba Fett was coming in December 2021.
That holiday release window was the same as what Kathleen Kennedy called "the next chapter" of The Mandalorian during Disney's Investor Day earlier this month. This led some viewers to believe that they could actually be one and the same, with Boba Fett becoming the new main character on The Mandalorian. However, that isn't the case. They're two separate shows.
Appearing on Good Morning America, Jon Favreau confirmed The Book of Boba Fett is another Mandalorian spinoff series, and the plan is for it to shoot before The Mandalorian season 3. The official Mandalorian Twitter shared the news, revealing Favreau will produce alongside Dave Filoni and Robert Rodriguez. Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wren star. Favreau also noted The Book of Boba Fett is that "next chapter" Kennedy alluded to at Investor Day, and The Mandalorian season 3 will follow later.
It's great Favreau was able to clear this up now, as there was some confusion in the immediate aftermath of seeing the post-credits scene. Most would agree it's definitely for the best The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian are their own entities. Over the course of the latter's first two seasons, Din Djarin has become a beloved fan-favorite character, and while "The Rescue" felt like a natural conclusion to his story so far, there's still a lot of rich material for The Mandalorian to cover. Given the response to The Mandalorian, it makes sense Lucasfilm plans on keeping Din around for the foreseeable future. There's no denying Boba is a highly popular character himself, but such a drastic shift in focus from one season to another potentially could have backfired. From the sound of this, The Mandalorian season 3 may not arrive until 2022, as it's currently still in pre-production.
Rodriguez directed the Boba-centric Mandalorian episode "The Tragedy" (which included Fett's standout action set piece), so his involvement with The Book of Boba Fett is exciting. He clearly has an interest in the character, and it'll be fascinating to see what he brings to the table for the spinoff show. The planned Boba Fett standalone movie was reportedly put on hold after Solo: A Star Wars Story underwhelmed at the box office, so it's great to see the feared bounty hunter will still get his moment in the spotlight thanks to The Book of Boba Fett. A TV series might actually work better than a single feature, as it will allow the creative team more time to explore Boba's character and flesh him out in the way the films couldn't. Hopefully, this will be another winner for Star Wars on Disney+.
Source: Good Morning America, The Mandalorian