Leave it to Dave Filoni to give us something really interesting to chew on. The man responsible for Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels was on hand at Star Wars Celebration today for a panel with Lucasfilm's Pablo Hidalgo. During the panel, Filoni revealed a previously unreleased clip from Star Wars: Clone Wars that shows bounty hunters Cad Bane and Boba Fett squaring off in a duel that, sadly, never made it to the show.
The panel, titled Dave Filoni: Animated Origins and Unexpected Fates, was one of the highlights this afternoon during the first day of Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida. He and Pablo Hidalgo, who is the head of Lucasfilm's story group, spend most of the panel showing off concept art and talking about the duel between Obi-Wan and Darth Maul that recently took place on Star Wars Rebels season 3. But just before the panel wrapped up, Dave Filoni decided to debut this clip, which isn't totally animated, though, it is fully voiced and finished well enough for us to appreciate how great this would have been to see in the show.
"We finally got permission to show a gunfight between Boba Fett and Cad Bane."
The clip opens with Boba Fett running to Cade Bane, who is hanging out in a ship with one of his goons holding some hostages. Fett, who is voiced by Star Wars: Attack of the Clones actor Daniel Logan in the clip, tries to bargain with Cad Bane to let the hostages go. While Fett is trying to make a stand, original trilogy favorite Bossk shows up along with some other folks to help get the situation under control. This leads to a very intense "pistols at dawn" style duel between the two bounty hunters, which ends very ambiguously. But it is an excellent clip.
The fate of Cad Bane has been a bit ambiguous in Star Wars lore ever since Star Wars: The Clone Wars ended. Since Boba Fett shows up in the original trilogy, we know he survived the duel, but this could ultimately be where Cad Bane met his demise. But Dave Filoni wouldn't divulge that information, as he likes to keep his lips sealed until the time is right. Outside of that, this clip would also go a long way in showing us the transition of Boba Fett from young, lost, angry kid to the feared bounty hunter Star Wars fans love. If he killed one of the most famous bounty hunters in the galaxy, that would cement his legacy pretty quickly.
There are a lot of big surprises in store this weekend at Star Wars Celebration, but it is stuff like this that hardcore Star Wars fans can really appreciate. We will maybe learn a bit more from Dave Filoni at the Star Wars Rebels season 4 panel on Saturday, which you will be able to live stream if you didn't make it to Orlando. In the meantime, you can check out the newly revealed clip from Star Wars: The Clone Wars for yourself below.