Star Wars Just Set Up the Live-Action Debut of a Surprising Jedi
Begun, the crossovers have.
The recent Star Wars video games are a curious case in the franchise’s canon. Though Jedi: Fallen Order was canon and set in the gap between the prequels and the original trilogy, there weren’t many ties to the broader saga, just appearances from various inquisitors and a boss fight with Darth Vader. Because of this, protagonist Cal Kestis became a character beloved by some but virtually unknown to Star Wars fans who don’t game.
Now, three years and a lot more Star Wars TV later, the recent sequel to Fallen Order, Jedi: Survivor, looks to rectify this confusion with some firmer ties to the newly-coined Mando-verse, the growing span of stories told in the decade after the original trilogy. And one key cameo in the game could mean a big Jedi cameo on Disney+.
In a Survivor cutscene, Jedi fugitive Cal works with a Nautolan named Caij, who leads him on a series of quests to kill bounty hunters looking for him. Once they’re defeated, Caij reveals she wanted to drive up Cal’s body count and maximize the bounty on his head. It looks like Caij is about to turn Cal in when a familiar jet-packed figure arrives: Boba Fett. Caij is relieved to see him, but then he reveals he’s after her, not Cal.
After Caij’s capture, Boba and Cal exchange words, with Boba saying he has no pity for the fate the Jedi suffered, which makes sense. After all, Jedi killed his father, Jango. This hatred of the Jedi would lead to the role Boba played in the original trilogy, and his eventual downfall in the Sarlacc Pit.
Outside of books and comics, this is the earliest in the timeline we’ve seen Boba wearing his father’s armor. The Boba Fett we see in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett is almost a completely different character, a tough but wise leader who’s seen some things. If an older Kestis shows up in The Mandalorian or one of its spinoffs, Boba Fett could recognize him, and maybe have a different attitude towards him.
Cal Kestis is played by Cameron Monaghan via motion capture, making a live-action cameo relatively easy.
Cal would be a perfect fit for the Mando-verse because, like Grogu, he was a youngling who managed to survive Order 66. And a jump from gaming to live action wouldn’t be difficult: Cameron Monaghan performs as Cal through motion capture, and the character is rendered to look just like him, so the only real adjustment that would need to be made is aging up the almost 30-year-old actor. Even that could be avoided if Cal is shown in a flashback.
It feels like the next chapter of Star Wars will focus on rebuilding, whether that’s rebuilding Mandalore, the Jedi Order, or a lost family. By introducing a future version of Cal, Star Wars could rebuild its interconnected universe and bring these once-isolated video games into the Mando-verse where they belong.
Jedi: Survivor is now available for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
