When and where does Boba Fett take place? The messy Star Wars canon, explained

Boba Fett? Boba Fett? When? In terms of fundamental questions about the Disney+ series The Book of Boba Fett, it’s easy to understand who he is. But for the casual fan — or perhaps even the serious one — knowing where and when all of this is happening within the larger context of Star Wars can be a bit confusing.

Where on Tatooine is Boba Fett happening? When do the two timelines take place? Here’s the complex setting of The Book of Boba Fett explained. Spoilers ahead for The Book of Boba Fett Episodes 1 and 2.

When does Book of Boba Fett take place?

In the Star Wars timeline, The Book of Boba Fett occurs in two separate time periods, separated by about five years. Here’s how that shakes out:

• The “present” of Boba Fett — when Fett and Fennec Shand are trying to take over a crime empire — happens in roughly 9ABY, about five years after Return of the Jedi. This is right after the events of The Mandalorian Season 2.
• The “past” of Boba Fett — in which we’re following Fett becoming part of a tribe of Tusken Raiders, following his escape from Sarlacc — happens right after the events of Return of the Jedi. So that means the “past” is approximately five years before the show's present timeline.
• We’ve also got a few glimpses of Boba Fett’s childhood, which takes place during Attack of the Clones in 22 BBY, so about 31 years prior to the show’s “present.”

Obviously, Fett has been hanging out with the Tusken tribe for a little bit, so presumably, the “past” of the series will catch up with the “present” at some point. In The Mandalorian Season 2 (again 9ABY), we met Fett in the present timeline, when he’d been wandering around in the Tatooine desert. Mando reunited him with this armor in that season, which created the context for the present timeline of The Book of Boba Fett.

Now, it’s possible that the series could have flashbacks from different eras, at which point, some of those timelines listed above will change.

Where does Book of Boba Fett take place?

The Book of Boba Fett takes place on Tatooine. Star Wars never meticulously conceived Tatooine’s geography like J.R.R. Tolkien’s maps of Middle-earth or George R.R. Martin’s conception of Westeros. Still, because most of the series happens on this famous desert planet — home of Luke Skywalker, Anakin Skywalker, and Jabba the Hutt’s business — Tatooine’s geography matters very much. Here are the most significant locations:

• The Dune Sea (of which there are maybe more than one)
• Jabba’s Palace
• Mos Espa (a city)
• The Great Pit of Carkoon (location of the Sarlacc)
• The Tosche Station (where Fett steals those speeder bikes)
• Mos Eisely (a spaceport city, so far only mentioned and not seen in Boba Fett)

But where are these places relative to each other? Well, first of all, there are a few semi-official maps of Tatooine floating around out there, and they seem to generally focus on the immediate areas we’re familiar with in the Star Wars films and TV shows.

One such map comes from media produced alongside the non-canon (Legends) novel Star Wars: Kenobi, published on Star Wars.com in 2013. It also now exists on Reddit and Wookieepedia.

There’s also a much more colorful map from the 2017 book Star Wars: Galactic Maps – An Illustrated Atlas of the Star Wars Universe, illustrated by Tim McDonagh. Of the two most easily searchable maps, this one is probably closer to canon, simply because it’s newer.

What do we learn from these maps? Well, here’s the big stuff:

• Mos Eisely is either northeast or southeast of Jabba’s Palace
• Mos Espa seems to be the city closest to Jabba’s Palace but perhaps northwest of it.
• The Tosche Station is south of Mos Eisley
• The Great Pit of Carkoon is seemingly east of Jabba’s Palace
• “The Dune Sea” is either southwest of Jabba’s Palace or northeast. (One map has two Dune Seas.)

Because Boba Fett talks about the Dune Sea in The Book of Boba Fett a lot, and these Tusken Raiders found him pretty close to The Great Pit of Carkoon, it stands to reason that the flashbacks find Boba Fett in the Dune Sea north of Jabba’s Palace, Tosche Station, and Mos Eisely. This also puts this Dune Sea pretty far east of Mos Espa. Of all the locations, it appears Mos Espa is pretty far away from the Dune Sea.

How big is the Dune Sea?

The second episode of The Book of Boba Fett — “The Tribes of Tatooine” — made a big deal out of the idea that Tatooine was once a planet with oceans, and that at least one of those oceans became “The Dune Sea.” If that’s true, the “Dune Sea” could be much bigger than we’ve previously assumed, meaning some of this patchwork geography might be incorrect.

However, assuming we’re close in our guesses about the relative cardinal directions, it may not matter how big the Dune Sea really is. Or if there are two Dune Seas. In all cases, the Dune Sea is far enough away from Jabba’s Palace, Mos Espa, and Mos Eisley. Only the Tosche Station was close enough to the Dune Sea for Boba Fett to get there on foot. So, the Dune Sea is vast and miles away from any real kind of civilization. In terms of direction, it’s probably north of everything, meaning when Boba Fett is going from the Dune Sea to the Tosche Station in Episode 2, he’s traveling south. (Unless he’s coming from the “western Dune Sea,” then he’s traveling east.)

Where is Boba Fett’s ship parked?

In The Mandalorian Season 2, we saw Fett reunited with his ship (previously owned by Jango Fett). The ship is sometimes called “Slave I” in Legends canon. In the “present” of The Book of Boba Fett, it’s not difficult to know where the ship may be. It’s probably parked at Jabba's Palace or in Mos Espa. But where is it in the flashbacks? If we assume it is at Jabba’s Palace, that means Fett is pretty far away from his ship — any way you look at it.

In Return of the Jedi, everybody has to take a bunch of skiffs and a sail barge out to the Sarlacc. Assuming they were traveling north (or east) — and Boba Fett has only gone deeper into the Dune Sea since then (in the flashbacks) — that could easily mean Boba Fett is much further away from his ship than ever before.

So, even though he could walk to the Tosche Station, he may be too far away to get his ship, no matter how fast those Banthas can gallop.

The Book of Boba Fett releases new episodes Wednesdays on Disney+.