Star Wars' Boba Fett TV Show Featured Almost Twice As Much Tatooine As The Movies (Was It Too Much?)

Tatooine has appeared many times in various Star Wars properties, but The Book of Boba Fett especially spent a significant amount of time there – nearly twice as long as all the movies combined. The desert homeworld of both Anakin and Luke Skywalker was expected to play a large role in Boba Fett’s spin-off TV show when the post-credits scene in The Mandalorian season 2 finale saw Boba killing Jabba the Hutt’s successor, Bib Fortuna, with Fennec Shand’s help. This was certainly the case, as the series followed Boba’s struggles with becoming Mos Espa’s daimyo.

Because of how rooted this series truly was to Tatooine, there were rarely any other planets featured in its story, which contradicts the way the Star Wars movies and TV shows often operate. Even in movies where Tatooine received most of its exposition, such as A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, there are still plenty of other planets visited over the course of its story. The Book of Boba Fett, by comparison, only visited two other planets: Glavis Ringworld and Ossus. This has rewarded Boba Fett’s show with an impressive, albeit shocking, achievement.

The Book Of Boba Fett Nearly Doubles Tatooine’s Runtime In The Movies

Nearly The Entire Show Takes Place There

As it turns out, The Book of Boba Fett doesn’t just surpass Tatooine’s runtime across all the current Star Wars movies; it nearly doubles it. Reddit user Psych_Ward8 acquired the approximate runtime of Tatooine’s appearances throughout the episodic Star Wars saga (with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Solo: A Star Wars Story never visiting Tatooine), which totals to 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 32 seconds. In comparison, The Book of Boba Fett (by my approximate calculations) spends a whopping 4 hours, 2 minutes, and 59 seconds on the Skywalker homeworld.

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This is an absolutely astounding difference, and certainly unprecedented as far as other planets go. The only closest comparison could be Coruscant’s appearances in Star Wars: The Clone Wars as compared to the movies, but even then, it may not be as significant of a difference as this. Granted, Tatooine was an unavoidable setting for Boba Fett’s story, given the fact he was thought to have died there and was still on-world five to six years later, when he began to track Din Djarin to get his armor back. Still, it’s shocking to see when the numbers are broken down.

Boba Fett May Have Spent Too Much Time On This Familiar World

The Stagnant Setting Had An Impact On The Story

Boba Fett standing next to Fennec Shand in the Book of Boba Fett

While Tatooine was an inevitable setting for this story, as stated above, it still may have spent too much time there. Boba Fett had no problem going from world-to-world with Din Djarin in The Mandalorian season 2 to assist in his rescue of Grogu from Moff Gideon. It seems strange that he would not only go right back to Tatooine, where he had essentially been trapped for the last half a decade, but also that he would continue to stay there and never go elsewhere. It unfortunately had an impact on the story itself as well.

The only time the show goes off-world is to follow Din Djarin, not Boba, as the latter never once leaves the planet.

Boba himself felt as stagnant as the setting did, mainly because his character in his TV show didn’t match up with what viewers had seen in The Mandalorian season 2. With no change in scenery, things felt even more slow and stuck. In fact, the only time the show goes off-world is to follow Din Djarin, not Boba, as the latter never once leaves the planet. Even in the flashbacks, everything happens on Tatooine, aside from brief glances at Kamino and the Battle of Geonosis. Boba’s story would have benefited greatly from getting off Tatooine some more.

It’s No Wonder Why Star Wars Viewers Want To Move On From Tatooine

It’s Taken Up Nearly 10% Of Star Wars’ Episodic Runtime

With the Star Wars movies spending roughly 10% of their total runtime on Tatooine, and The Book of Boba Fett spending double that amount of time there, it’s really no wonder why Star Wars audiences want the franchise to move on from this desert world. At this point, there isn’t much else of it to show; from Mos Eisley to Mos Espa and even Mos Pelgo/Freetown, this planet’s been discovered and rediscovered over and over again. This doesn’t mean the planet should never be seen again, but clearly, other options ought to be explored and revisited first.

Jake Lloyd as young Anakin Skywalker looking up in front of an image of Tatooine with question marks in the background

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There are plenty of other Star Wars worlds that the franchise can revisit should they wish to, and there are, of course, the unending possibilities of brand-new planets in this massive galaxy far, far away. Most TV shows have utilized the latter, with some creating their own iconic “homeworlds” that can be compared to Tatooine, such as The Mandalorian‘s Nevarro. The Star Wars sequel trilogy planets also tend to be entirely brand-new, with rare exceptions. This is a trend that ought to continue, with The Book of Boba Fett acting as evidence of why revisits ought to be avoided.