This week’s episode of “The Book of Boba Fett” featured an unexpected introduction. Episode 6 of the series is titled “From the Desert Comes a Stranger” and the stranger in question is Cad Bane, an imposing-looking figure who appears out of the dune sea like a mirage, dressed in black, with a wide brimmed hat. After he appears, well, things go to hell. His introduction is handled so specifically, with a combination of ceremony and mystery, that’s it is very clear he is somebody. But who, exactly? Read on to find out.
Spoilers follow, for “The Book of Boba Fett” and several other key junctures in the “Star Wars” universe.
Who is Cad Bane?
In the purest sense, Cad Bane is a bounty hunter. He is part of the Duros species from the planet Duro, and his allegiance has shifted throughout his time in the “Star Wars” canon. But know this: he is a bad hombre. Unlike Boba Fett, who grew a conscious and found his moral compass, Cad Bane is purely villainous. Amongst other things, Bane has killed countless people, broken into the Senate Chamber on Coruscant, kidnapped Force-wielding children, and, perhaps more unforgivably, captured R2-D2 and C-3PO. (How dare he!) His alliance is won by the highest bidder, and he has completed jobs for the Hutt crime family and Darth Sidious. While primarily active during the events of the prequel trilogy, he survived the rise and fall of the Galactic Empire and is still operating on the moral fringes of the galaxy.
In terms of inspiration, the character is loosely modeled after Lee Van Cleef’s character from “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” and voice actor Corey Burton (who mercifully returned for “The Book of Boba Fett”) does a full-on Van Cleef impression, augmented by a digital distortion that makes him sound a little like the title character from Brian De Palma’s masterpiece “Phantom of the Paradise.”
What Is Cad Bane From?
Cad Bane first appeared on Dave Filoni’s animated series “The Clone Wars” (Filoni directed and co-wrote this week’s episode of “The Book of Boba Fett”), which took place during the events of the prequel, filling in the gaps between movies (and beyond). His creation is credited to Filoni, George Lucas, and writer Henry Gilroy. Filoni has speculated that Lucas, who had the initial idea for the character, might have come up with him decades earlier, citing the appearance of the name “Mace Windu” in early, pre-“Star Wars” materials dating back to 1973 and not making its way to the canon until 1999.
Bane did all of the bad stuff described above, and probably would have continued to do bad. When “The Clone Wars” was prematurely canceled, Filoni spoke about how Cad Bane’s arc was incomplete. At some point he would have become a mentor and teacher to a group of young bounty hunters, teaching them the treacherous craft. One of those young bounty hunters was supposed to be none other than Boba Fett.
Where Else Has He Appeared?
Most recently, Cad Bane turned up in the first season of “The Bad Batch,” the animated “Clone Wars” spin-off that is also overseen by Filoni (and shares a similarly angular animation style). In that show, he actually has a robust fight with Fennec Shand, the “Book of Boba Fett” character played by Ming-Na Wen. It’s all coming together …
In the same show he is hired to kidnap Omega, the female unaltered clone and who is now assumed to be Boba Fett’s sister (he is often referred to as Alpha). Of course, The Bad Batch, a group of dysfunctional Clone Troopers, put an end to that plot. It’s unclear what became of Omega or whether or not she’ll show up in “The Book of Boba Fett” (“The Bad Batch” is ongoing and has yet to return for season 2), but it’s just interesting that Cad Bane and Boba Fett are so intertwined.
Cad Bane also appears in “Star Wars: Darth Maul,” a comic book series that takes place before the events of the prequels, and in several comics and novels that have now been deemed non-canonical, or “Legends.”
What Happens on ‘The Book of Boba Fett?’
Once Cad Bane emerges from the salty haze of the Tatooine desert, he has a confrontation with Cobb Vanth, the Marshal of Mos Pelgo, now known as Freetown. Bane offers Vanth twice what The Mandalorian offered up if Vanth and his crew will stay out of the upcoming battle of the various syndicates. Bane wants Vanth to be like Paul and tell Boba Fett, The Mandalorian and the various syndicates, “this is between y’all.” It’s clear from their dialogue that Cad Bane has been hired by the Pykes, the evil fishy spice runners, and that he has been keeping tabs on Cobb, making a crack about how he probably wishes he still had Boba Fett’s armor (that’s a long story).
At the end of their conversation (and true to the “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” connections), there’s a good old fashioned Mexican standoff. Bane shoots the Marshal’s deputy, killing him, and shoots Cobb too. (We’re hopefully optimistic about Cobb’s prognosis. He’s an old lump of coal and it’ll take more than a single laser blast to put him six feet underneath the Tatooine sand.) Before leaving, Cad tells the townspeople that “Tatooine belongs to the Syndicate.” Yikes.
Will Cad join the big melee that will undoubtedly erupt in next week’s finale? We think yes. And given his connections to Boba Fett, he could be a potential foil should “The Book of Boba Fett” have a second chapter. His reemergence has certainly destabilized things in an exciting way. And that is very exciting indeed.
