How Star Wars Found Its First Boba Fett Actor Out Of ‘Pure Luck’

Boba Fett’s on-screen journey is an interesting one, to say the least. He first appeared in “The Star Wars Holiday Special,” which aired only once because it was so bad. But Fett’s inclusion in an animated short within that special has long been viewed as a highlight. The bounty hunter then appeared in “Empire” as part of a collection of bounty hunters assembled by Darth Vader to capture Han Solo, Leia, and the rest of the Rebels hiding out on the Millennium Falcon. He appears in just a couple of scenes, but the impact was palpable. Bulloch was the on-set actor in the suit, with Jason Wingreen originally providing the limited dialogue.

However, Temuera Morrison played Jango Fett in “Attack of the Clones.” Since Boba Fett was a clone of his father, Morrison later re-dubbed the dialogue for “The Empire Strikes Back.” It was also Morrison who donned the helmet and jetpack for “The Mandalorian” and “The Book of Boba Fett.” But Bulloch is the man who had the honor of imprinting his initial take on the character. Without him, who knows if Boba Fett would have become what he became? Speaking further during the Reddit AMA, Bulloch ruminated a bit on his journey and where this character fits into the whole thing.

“It has become a large piece of my life. I started acting at 12, mainly because I failed every test in school — I was more on the sports side. Suddenly, at the age of 12, I went to drama school and I carried on and had a very good career. I’m still working now. It’s just extraordinary. It’s probably when they re-released the film in 1997 when the character became well known to people and they thought, ‘Who’s this guy?’ Whenever I go somewhere people ask, ‘Are you the guy who plays Boba Fett?’ I’ve had some nice roles to play but having played Boba Fett…I can think about that for years to come.”