The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett

During the mid-1990s, Star Wars author Kevin J. Anderson came up with the concept of creating short story collections that would explore the lives of various supporting characters from the Star Wars saga. These characters' histories had mostly only been hinted at in West End Games source materials. Bantam Spectra, the publisher, and Lucy Wilson, the Director of Publishing at Lucasfilm's, were enthusiastic about the idea. Anderson then started inviting various writers, some of whom had prior experience in the Star Wars universe, to contribute stories to the first collection, Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina. This anthology featured sixteen short stories that covered many of the characters briefly seen in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. Among those invited was Daniel Keys Moran, the author of the Continuing Time series published by Bantam. Heather McConnell, Moran's partner and an editor at Bantam, recommended him to Anderson. Moran wrote Empire Blues: The Devaronian's Tale, which was inspired by Kathy Tyers' contribution to the project, We Don't Do Weddings: The Band's Tale. Anderson was impressed with Moran's work, and Lucasfilm approved it with minor adjustments, such as removing the word "whores." The anthology was eventually released in August, 1995, more than ten months after Lucasfilm had initially approved the concept.

Shortly after the first anthology, Tales from Jabba's Palace, a second collection, was approved. Anderson once again invited Moran to contribute, this time to write a story about Boba Fett, who had appeared in both Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and Episode VI Return of the Jedi. Drawn to Fett's "strong, silent, brutal" nature, Moran agreed and submitted an outline for a story about what happened to Fett after he fell into the sarlacc pit in Return of the Jedi. Moran's outline described the sarlacc as self-aware and depicted Fett spending many years inside it before escaping. This outline was initially approved. However, Lucasfilm later requested that Moran alter the story to have Fett remain in the sarlacc for only a few days and to remove the sentient aspect, leading to the creation of Susejo. Moran revised the story until Lucasfilm was satisfied, but he was unhappy with the final result and chose to use a pseudonym—J. D. Montgomery—despite Lucasfilm's wishes. No Star Wars author had previously used a pseudonym with Bantam, but Moran insisted that they either publish the revised piece under the pseudonym or publish the original submission without it. In the anthology's "About the Authors" section, the pseudonym issue was jokingly addressed, stating that J.D. Montgomery "does not exist…not really." The story, A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett, was published in January, 1996. Relations between Lucasfilm and Moran became strained, and he doubted he would have the opportunity to write for Anderson's final collection, Tales of the Bounty Hunters.

Despite this, Anderson was eager to have Moran as one of the four authors, besides himself, to contribute to the third anthology. He contacted Moran and asked him to write the Boba Fett story. Daniel Keys Moran was surprised by Anderson's offer, recognizing that it could create tension between Anderson and Lucasfilm and that it was a risky move on Anderson's part. Moran suspected that Anderson knew it wasn't in his best interest to offer him the job, which he admired. After confirming with Anderson that he would be able to write without excessive interference from Lucasfilm, Moran accepted and began working on an outline. His short story would span various periods in Fett's life: his exile from his homeworld; his initial encounter with Han Solo during an early bounty hunter mission; a brief summary of the events in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi; a mission fifteen years after Return of the Jedi to secure Fett's retirement funds; and a final showdown with his old nemesis, Han Solo. He also decided on the title "The Last One Standing," which remained unchanged. Interestingly, Moran wasn't restricted by Lucasfilm from exploring Boba Fett's youth, despite the common belief that the pre-A New Hope era was off-limits to authors in the 1990s due to potential contradictions with the then-unreleased Star Wars prequel trilogy.

Once his outline was complete, Moran decided that if Lucasfilm was unhappy with any significant part of it, he would decline to write the story and request that someone else take his place. This decision was made easier by the fact that the anthologies offered little financial compensation; Moran stated that he was essentially writing the stories out of love for the Star Wars franchise. He submitted his outline to Anderson, explaining his position. Anderson liked the outline and encouraged Moran to write the story, promising to protect it from major changes by Lucasfilm. Moran then began working on his first draft.

Moran enjoyed writing the story, and it became one of his favorite works. He maintained contact with Kevin J. Anderson throughout the writing process. After writing the scene in which Kardue'sai'Malloc is killed in a pit of starving, vicious quarra, he sent Anderson a letter saying, "When I'm old and have sons, I will tell them, 'Daddy was badmerg once.'" After finishing his first draft, Moran sent it to Anderson, who then sent it to Lucasfilm. Some minor adjustments were made, particularly to the harsh language, with "hell" and "damn" being removed despite their presence in the films and many Expanded Universe works. The town on Jubilar mentioned in the story was originally named "Halfway to Hell" and later "Hell," but these were changed to "Dying Slowly" and "Death." Moran would have preferred the changes not to be made but didn't object strongly. At one point, a part of a line was removed: "If this is Han, buddy, you owe me five hundreds credits if I get back, you've been betting on the slow ones lately" was shortened to "If this is Han, buddy, you owe me five hundreds credits if I get back," without explanation. This change annoyed Moran, but he didn't make an issue of it.

However, Lucasfilm had a major problem with Kardue'sai'Malloc's death scene. An individual at LFL strongly disliked the scene and didn't want it included in the final product under any circumstances. Moran and Lucasfilm discussed the issue, with LFL referring to the scene as "the torture scene." Despite this, Anderson kept his promise to Moran, and the scene remained unchanged. The story was eventually approved and published along with four others in Tales of the Bounty Hunters.

Initially, this story was considered the definitive origin story for Boba Fett. However, the release of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones presented a conflict, as its portrayal of Fett's early years contradicted the Jaster Mereel narrative. When questioned about his feelings regarding the contradiction of "The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett," Daniel Keys Moran stated that it did not bother him significantly, as he did not place much importance on canon. However, he admitted that he preferred his version of the story to the one depicted in the film.

Jango Fett: Open Seasons implemented a retcon, re-characterizing Jaster Mereel as a separate individual, the mentor of Fett's father, Jango Fett. Boba Fett adopted Jaster's name as an alias, thus preventing the story from becoming entirely apocryphal.

In 2018, Keys Moran disclosed in an interview that prior to the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, a film from the Star Wars Anthology, he had been in communication with an employee of the Walt Disney Company. These communications concerned the possibility of Lucasfilm adapting "The Last One Standing: The Tale of Boba Fett" into a potential Boba Fett feature film.