In an episode full of explosive cameos, the most important may have drawn the least attention. The Book of Boba Fett Episode 6 ended with the introduction of iconic bounty hunter Cad Bane, but to understand why this matters, we need to revisit a forgotten scene from Star Wars history.
Until now, Cad Bane has been relegated to the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which means a lot of Star Wars fans may have no idea who he is. In short, Cad was one of the most fearsome bounty hunters in the galaxy with a knack for fighting Jedi. He sparred with both Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi at various points.
More importantly, he also played a part in training Boba Fett in the ways of bounty hunting. That’s where things get interesting...
You see, The Clone Wars series has a rocky history. After Disney bought Lucasfilm, the series was canceled, with a sixth season full of some of the show’s strangest stories unceremoniously dumped on Netflix. Years later, Clone Wars got the finale it deserved, with Season 7 on Disney+ bringing the story to its logical conclusion as it caught up with Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.
However, not everything originally developed for the show made it into that final season. Case in point, this deleted Clone Wars scene, which shows a fateful duel between Boba Fett and Cad Bane.
After Bane’s appearance in Boba Fett, an early version resurfaced online, and it’s pretty amazing:
Not only does this scene help explain why Cad Bane is such an important character for Boba Fett’s journey, but it also solves a classic Star Wars mystery. How did Boba’s helmet get that iconic dent? Turns out, that’s where Cad shot him. (And if it wasn’t for the beskar, Boba would probably be dead.)
Of course, it’s worth noting that technically, this scene isn’t Star Wars canon. It’s possible Book of Boba Fett could rewrite their history, though Clone Wars still makes it clear these two bounty hunters go way back.
Either way, it’s going to be very interesting to see them come face-to-face in Episode 7, but it’ll be an added bonus if the season finale also manages to finally solve the mystery of Boba Fett’s dented helmet once and for all.
Book of Boba Fett is streaming now on Disney+.
