There are very few people who knew Flashdance and The L Word star Jennifer Beals was set to appear in Star Wars series The Book of Boba Fett, and even the actress herself wasn’t sure what she was taking part in when she was ready to begin filming. With the series now just over a week away, Beals has been able to reveal just a little more about her appearance in the show and how for her there were a lot of spiritual connections involved in starring in the spin-off series from The Mandalorian.
The plot for The Book of Boba Fett is still as guarded a secret as they come, and therefore Beals could only talk so much about her role in the series, but she did explain in an interview with Variety that coming into franchise was special thanks to the team behind the show, which includes Jon Favreau and Robert Rodriguez.
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The actress was asked about the character she plays, which has been revealed in brief shots so far but without much in the way of context, and again was happy to explain about that well known secrecy that surrounds the biggest Disney-owned IPs. Having been offered a role in a Star Wars project, it seems that even the actress wasn’t really aware what she was taking part in until she was ready to start filming.
“I had worked with both Jon and Robert many, many years ago. Jon and I were both in “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle,” and Robert, I worked with on “Four Rooms.” And knew him from that circle of friends with Quentin [Tarantino] and my ex-husband, Alex Rockwell. But it’d been decades since I’d seen them.”
However, it seems that despite going into the role mostly blind, Beals did have some assistance when it came to being reminded of what a Twi’lek is in the Star Wars Universe. “I had to be reminded of what that was and who they are and where they’re from. Dave Filoni is just extraordinary. He’s like a walking encyclopedia. Instead of relying on the internet — which, you know, I don’t know who the authors are of certain articles that I’m looking at — I would go to the source. I would go to Dave, and we would talk about character and how is this person different perhaps than the lineage that’s come before, and what has informed her experiences and then how does that change the way she looks or behaves — or dresses for that matter.”
“I mean, I knew about the character. But this is how good they are at the lockdown of secrets: Even when I first stepped onto the set, I didn’t realize that I was in “The Book of Boba Fett.” I just knew that I was getting to be part of this story.”
Robert Rodriguez recently confirmed trailers for The Book of Boba Fett only contain footage from the opening half of the pilot episode, and therefore Beals’ Twi’lek character is just one of the many surprises to come as we discover how she fits with the story of Boba Fett and Fennec Shand. While Beals would not disclose too much, when pressed she did respond to a question of whether her character was “one of stature”, by saying it was “a fair way to summarize” her role. For any more than that, we are just going to have to wait until The Book of Boba Fett is released on Disney+ on December 29th.
