Boba Fett’s King Kong Rancor Scene Completes The ROTJ Rewrite

Warning! Spoilers ahead for The Book of Boba Fett episode 7

In The Book of Boba Fett‘s finale episode, the rampage of Fett’s pet rancor is the perfect homage to the classic monster King Kong, completing the reimagining of the creature first seen in Return of the Jedi. While Tatooine’s new daimyo was able to turn the tide with his new pet in his battle against the Pyke syndicate, he eventually lost control of the surprisingly complex creature. This led to the rancor channeling his inner Kong in the city of Mos Espa, causing quite a bit of damage in the final episode of the new Star Wars series.

In The Book of Boba Fett episode 3, Jabba the Hutt’s cousins agreed to renounce their claim to Jabba’s palace and holdings. In doing so, the Hutts gifting Boba with a pet rancor as restitution for their prior conflict. As revealed by the rancor’s handler (played by Danny Trejo), Boba Fett learned that “rancors are emotionally complex creatures”, capable of feeling a wide range of emotions including affection and imprinting upon the first human they see. As such, it’s a pretty dynamic reworking for the creature who was believed by Star Wars fans to be no more than a savage beast who nearly ate Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi.

However, the expansion of rancor lore is further proven when Boba Fett rides it into battle against the Pyke syndicate in The Book of Boba Fett episode 7 (paying off Fett’s intentions to do so from the third episode). While the former bounty hunter and the mighty beast were quite the dynamic pair, the arrival of Cad Bane resulted in Boba losing control of the massive creature who ran off, starting a rampage after being attacked and wounded. Furthermore, the rampage itself is extremely familiar, bearing an uncanny resemblance to King Kong on the Empire State Building when the rancor climbs up its own tower. As such, the rancor’s meta-mimicry of King Kong further proves that it’s more than a simple beast, just as Kong was more complex than a simple gorilla.

It’s no coincidence that the rampaging rancor looked so similar to King Kong seeing as how The Book of Boba Fett’s finale was directed by Robert Rodriguez. This is because Rodriguez credits the late special effects legend and iconic monster creator Ray Harryhausen as a major filmmaking inspiration. Not only was 1933’s King Kong the film that Harryhausen credited as his own inspiration to do visual effects in Hollywood, but the first major picture he worked on was 1949’s Mighty Joe Young, a giant gorilla story heavily inspired by King Kong itself. Likewise, Rodriguez honored Harryhausen’s work on the original Clash of the Titans earlier in the Star Wars series with the four-armed monster Boba defeated which earned him a place among the Tusken Raiders as it very much resembled Harryhausen’s stop-motion models for the Kraken.

Clearly, rancors are not the simple-minded beasts they were believed to be in Return of the Jedi. Thanks to the new rewrite provided by The Book of Boba Fett, fans now know that rancors are emotionally complex just like King Kong. While both can show affection towards characters such as Boba Fett or Ann Darrow (the woman Kong grows attached to in the original films), they can also be vengeful and full of rage as seen when Kong is brought to New York or with the rancor arrives in Mos Espa. Furthermore, if the episode itself wasn’t enough of a Kong homage the concept art in the credits depicts the rancor holding a Twi’lek woman in his hand while climbing the tower. It’s a clear indication that the rancor channeling King Kong was always the intention for The Book of Boba Fett‘s final episode, completing the Star Wars creature’s dynamic reimagining.

The Book of Boba Fett is now streaming on Disney+.

About The Author

Kevin Erdmann
(2522 Articles Published)

Kevin Erdmann is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers. With a major in Cinema Studies and a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin is pretty sure he’s writing for the right site. While Kevin is a huge Marvel fan, he also loves Batman because he’s Batman and is a firm believer that Han shot first. Disney also shares a big part of his fan patronage. Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.

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