Temuera Morrison and Ming-Na Wen on 'The Book of Boba Fett'

Temeura Morrison and Ming-Na Wen, stars of The Book of Boba Fett, talk about who would win in a fight, the satisfaction of bringing back a character from the original Star Wars movies, and how the story of Boba Fett and the Mandalorians connects to the struggles of indigenous peoples throughout our world.

Video Transcript

- You all accrued wealth and riches under Jaba.

You can again.

With this man-- Boba Fett.

ETHAN ALTER: So, Ming-Na, starting with you. For now, up to now, up through the first two episodes, we've seen Fennec be willing to enforce Boba's agenda. What would happen if they ever come to blows? Who do you bet on in that match?

MING-NA WEN: Oh. Well I think Tem and I have very different answers for that. I'm going to say-- fennec. Don't hate me

TEMUERA MORRISON: I agree. I agree. I can't hit a woman.

MING-NA WEN: Aw!

TEMUERA MORRISON: I'll just take the punishment. She wins.

MING-NA WEN: That's awesome.

TEMUERA MORRISON: But she's lethal. I don't know if you saw her Kung-Fu moves, or whatever those moves were.

MING-NA WEN: Yeah.

TEMUERA MORRISON: Excellent. Excellent.

ETHAN ALTER: Well, Temuera, we've seen Luke Skywalker pop up on The Mandalorian obviously. If Boba bumps into Han Solo at some point down the pike, how do you think that rematch goes down.

TEMUERA MORRISON: It's won't to be a pretty sight for him. Especially since he was responsible for my Sarlacc experience. I owe him big time. I owe him big time. He's going to be going in that Sarlacc and then some.

But, yeah, hey-- it's just a wonderful opportunity to get this character out of the Sarlacc pit where he's been lost since the 1980s. So again, sort of, like stripping away the bark from the tree. But we're stripping away all those outer layers of Boba. And we're going to find what-- the series is about finding that hardness, that core, what makes him tick. So-- it's just a wonderful opportunity. I'm very grateful.

ETHAN ALTER: Well one of the things I really love about both Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett is they've reframed how we thought about the Tusken Raiders. We really see that they're the colonized on a world full of would be colonizers. So I wonder, especially Temuera for you, because you come from an Indigenous background. Does that storyline really resonate with you.

TEMUERA MORRISON: We know all about that word, colonized, and all that so-- down here. Buy, yeah, it's a great opportunity for me as a Maori from New Zealand putting us on the world stage again representing the Indigenous people. So I feel a sense of responsibility.

Funnily enough, I used to put the name of one of my ancestors on my chair, on my changing room, And. On my car park. So when I pulled in there was my ancestor's name, which was [INAUDIBLE]. And he was one of the captains that traversed the Pacific and arrived in Aotearoa. So it gave me a sense of pride, a sense of, hey, I better do good acting today. That Ming-Na's getting too good.

Also, it gave you a sense of responsibility for your own people back home who will eventually get to watch some of this stuff.

MING-NA WEN: And I loved, like, working with Tem. Like, learning so much more about the Maori culture. And I want to learn the Haka, Tem. I want to learn it. Yes, yes. And I bet you would be a good teacher, an amazing teacher for it.

TEMUERA MORRISON: Yes, I'll be a very good teacher. Yeah, but that'll be another time. We haven't got time to learn the Haka. But "Ha" is the breath, "Ka" is the fire.

MING-NA WEN: Yeah.

TEMUERA MORRISON: So Haka, fire breath, and it allows that force to come to the fore.

MING-NA WEN: Yes

ETHAN ALTER: Another kind of force. I like it.