Who Is Cad Bane? What to Know About ‘Star Wars’ Latest Live-Action Debut

[WARNING: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Disney+ series The Book of Boba Fett Season 1 Episode 6, “From the Desert Comes a Stranger.”]

From the desert came a stranger with red eyes, blue skin and a really nice hat. But just who is this mysterious (and deadly) alien?

If you haven’t seen Star Wars: The Clone Wars, you might be feeling a little lost when it comes to Disney’s latest animation to live-action character translation. We’re here to help with a guide to all things Cad Bane, and a little speculation as to how he might factor into The Book of Boba Fett’s finale.

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Who Is Cad Bane?

Even in a land of scum and villainy, Bane stands out as among the scummiest and most villainous. A famed Duros bounty hunter who made his first appearance in the Clone Wars cartoons, Bane often showed up to make life difficult for the Jedi, whom he was particularly skilled in fighting. He frequently worked for bad guys like the Hutts, Darth Sidious and whoever was paying him the most. He claimed he’d “take any job, for the right price”; he’s broken into the Jedi Temple, stolen a Jedi holocron and attempted to assassinate Chancellor Palpatine (before he was officially Emperor Palpatine and glaringly evil). One of his missions even involved kidnapping Jedi younglings to bring them to the Sith for experimentation. So, yeah.

He’s not a great guy, but he does have a super-cool hat (which he killed someone to obtain), super-cool shoes with rockets on the bottom, and a super-cute droid named Todo 360. Todo hasn’t shown up in live-action yet, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed.

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How is Cad Bane Connected to Boba Fett?

This is where things get complicated, mostly because it’s not totally clear what’s canon. There was a scrapped storyline from The Clone Wars that would have shown him taking a young Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) under his wing and serving as a mentor to him, as Jango Fett once was to Bane. (Bounty hunters helping bounty hunters. It truly warms the heart.) That arc would have concluded with a duel between Boba and Bane, during which Boba would kill the Duros and wind up with the dent we see in his helmet in the present day.

Bane is also connected to Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), albeit more concretely. In The Bad Batch, they were both hired to deliver unaltered female clone Omega to their respective clients. Fennec and Bane fought and the master assassin won, although in the end neither of them were able to bring in young Omega.

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What Role Will He Play in the Final Episode?

Obviously, Bane isn’t dead, so the duel between him and Boba didn’t take place exactly as written. They’re clearly not buddies, and it’s entirely possible the red-eyed bounty hunter is on Tatooine to bring someone Boba’s head. Another duel might occur between Boba and Bane, between Bane and Fennec, or perhaps Fennec and Boba vs. Bane.

Based on his dialogue in “From the Desert Comes a Stranger,” it seems like Bane is working for the Pykes. However, that might be a misdirect. It’s entirely possible that someone else hired Bane, or someone else hired the Pykes, who hired Bane. In that case, the most likely candidate would probably be Crimson Dawn, the crime syndicate from Solo. If Crimson Dawn is behind everything, there’s a pretty darn good chance we might see Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) again.

But no matter who he fights or who he’s working for, we’re hoping he and his very nice hat stick around to cause trouble in the live-action Star Wars universe for a long while.

The Book of Boba Fett, Wednesdays, Disney+