WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, “Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger,” now streaming on Disney+.
The Book of Boba Fett has included plenty of surprise cameos for longtime Star Wars fans, including the legendary band player Max Rebo. However, the sixth episode of the series, “Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger,” seems to suggest that the beloved blue Ortolan could have met his end.
In this episode Mos Espa’s cantina is visited by two members of the brutal Pyke syndicate. At first, the two sit down for a moment, strangely denying services of hospitality from the cantina’s crew. After a few moments they mysteriously leave, and soon after a bomb goes off in the establishment. Of course, this terrorist attack is likely to have claimed the lives of everybody in the cantina, including the Twi’lek Madam Garsa Fwip. However, while Max Rebo was last seen doing what he does best in the Mos Espa cantina in the series premiere, the scene did not contain any visual hint of him being there, pointing to the possibility that he could have survived.
Like Boba, The Book of Boba Fett made the decision to bring back Max after a seemingly confirmed past demise involving another explosion. A former member of Jabba’s sail barge entertainment crew, Max ended up somehow surviving the vehicle’s destruction in Return of the Jedi. Prior to the age of the New Republic, Max had headlined his own group, appropriately named the Max Rebo band.
The elephant-like creature is best known for playing an instrument known as the red ball jett organ, which is referenced in the book, Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know by Adam Bray. Later, Max would form a new group and serve as a musician in the Mos Espa cantina, which was visited by the likes of Boba Fett and Black Krrsantan.
The cantina scene made a point to establish his other band members playing in the Mos Espa cantina, including a drummer droid and a Bith music player. It seems strange that the legendary Max Rebo would not be making an appearance that night, as he is no doubt a major attraction for bringing in patrons to the cantina.
Could Max have been in the cantina, but off-screen? Could he have been in the break room? Even if Max was in the Mos Espa cantina when the explosion occurred, it’s entirely possible that he could have escaped death once again as he did in Jabba’s sail barge destruction. Hopefully, though, it was just his night off.
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