Boba Fett’s Animated Debut From The Star Wars Holiday Special Is Coming to Disney+

Boba Fett’s Animated Debut From The Star Wars Holiday Special Is Coming to Disney+

The Star Wars Holiday Special is one of the most infamous aspects of Star Wars’ peculiar brand of infamy: a sidestep so achingly terrible that, despite the fact no one wants to actually talk about it, fans can’t stop talking about it. And now, at least part of what was once stricken from history is coming to streaming.

Hidden in a list of upcoming additions for April, Disney has confirmed that “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee” will be part of a swath of Star Wars additions to its streaming service. You might not be familiar with the name, but you likely know its origins: it’s the Nelvana-animated segment of the 1978 disaster that is the Star Wars Holiday Special. The short — watched by Chewbacca’s son Lumpawaroo as he waits for his father to come home for the Wookiee holiday Life Day — marks the debut of Boba Fett.

[referenced id=”1530310″ url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/11/see-how-the-star-wars-holiday-special-came-to-be-in-a-brand-new-documentary/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/18/z5iwg19h6yll9v0morer-e1605645734659-300×154.jpg” title=”See How The Star Wars Holiday Special Came to Be in a Brand New Documentary” excerpt=”The Star Wars Holiday Special is one of the most mysterious and intriguing pieces in all of Star Wars history. Released after A New Hope, but before The Empire Strikes Back, the bizarre variety show was unlike anything fans had ever seen or would ever see again. After its release,…”]

Although “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee” has been made available before — it was a secret Easter egg hidden on the Blu-ray collection of the “Complete Saga” back in 2011 — this marks the first time that’ll be widely available, and the first official release of material from The Star Wars Holiday Special since the TV movie broadcast in 1978. Which is wild, given how much George Lucas hated it. It remains to be seen if this is just because a version of the short was already somewhat accessible to Lucasfilm, or if it’s a sign of other parts of the special to finally be released. Gizmodo has reached out to Lucasfilm for comment, and will update this post if we hear back.

That’s not all for Star Wars fans, though. Also coming in April is the Ewoks animated series, as well as the two frankly petrifying live-action Ewok TV movies, Caravan of Courage and The Battle for Endor. Are they great? Not really, but it’s cool to see Disney embrace some of the…less beloved parts of Star Wars’ televisual history.

You know what is great, is also cool to see Disney embrace, and is coming to Disney+ too? Volume 1 and 2 of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars, the animated short series that introduced us to the front lines of the titular conflict in 2003.

April’s going to be a good time to be a Star Wars fan, questionably so or otherwise.