How a Y-wing connects The Mandalorian and Grogu to Star Wars: A New Hope, the Hutt family legacy, and much more!
Rotta the Hutt wasn’t always a muscled fighter.
Although he makes his live-action debut in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, nearly 20 years ago the character was introduced as a baby himself in a different theatrical feature: the premiere of the first animated tale from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Harkening back to his roots, the film — in theaters now! — does include a live-action holo image of baby Rotta, courtesy of a model hand painted by Director Jon Favreau himself.
Read on to learn more about Rotta, the connections between Jabba the Hutt’s designer and the Nal Hutta palace seen in the film, and more fun facts, trivia, and behind-the-scenes Easter eggs.
1. Rotta the Huttlet first appeared in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated film directed by Dave Filoni. The 2008 feature launched the series by the same name and introduced Jabba the Hutt’s son, nicknamed Stinky, as well as Anakin Skywalker’s Padawan Ahsoka Tano.
2. David Acord originally voiced baby Rotta in animation. For the film, the older Rotta is performed by Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) and Acord serves as sound designer.
3. The Twins first appeared in Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett.
4. During his time with Lucasfilm, Phil Tippett headed the creature shop for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, designing several creatures including Jabba the Hutt, the original template that all Hutts, like the Twins and Rotta, are based on.
5. After Jedi, Tippett founded Tippett Studios, where stop-motion animators have worked on sequences for The Mandalorian and Skeleton Crew, most recently lending their skill to bring the giant droids guarding the Twins’ palace to life.
6. Tippett was also the co-creator and animator of the dejarik chess creatures first seen in Star Wars: A New Hope, and now found rampaging through Shakari in The Mandalorian and Grogu.
7. Embo the Kyozo first appeared in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series during the Season 2 episode, “Bounty Hunters.”
8. Although he previously worked with an anooba named Marrok in animation, the creature seen prowling with Embo in live-action is a different member of the same species. Her name is Keibu.
9. Actor Shirley Henderson, who voiced the first Anzellan, Babu Frik in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and provided the voices for the trio of droidsmiths in The Mandalorian Season 3, returns to voice all four Anzellans — Minch, Bai, Keeto, and newcomer Clang.
10. Stunt Coordinator Lateef Crowder is also one of three people to wear the Mandalorian’s armor in the film. Crowder shares the helmet with Brendan Wayne and Pedro Pascal.
11. A sign above the doorway leading to the dejarik arena says “Weathers Apollo” in an homage to the late Greef Karga actor Carl Weathers who famously portrayed Apollo Creed in the Rocky franchise.
12. The design for the Moon of Shakari resembles Prohibition-era Chicago and was inspired by Director Jon Favreau’s time in the real city.
13. The Dejarik Match is an homage to the holochess game first played in Star Wars: A New Hope. The Mandalorian and Grogu establishes that the creatures seen in the game version are indeed real beasts that can be seen fighting in the Pit on Shakari.
14. Sooga! Hugo Durant keeps a mudhorn egg in his stall. Fans may remember another mudhorn egg that featured prominently in Season 1 of The Mandalorian, in Chapter 2 “The Child.”
15. The model of the Red Jammer Y-wing used in the film was borrowed from the archives. Crafted for the original film, the model was used as reference for the full-sized Y-wings in Star Wars: A New Hope but has never previously been used on screen.
16. A few of the New Republic recruits found on Adelphi Base have also helped bring The Mandalorian to life behind the scenes. Look closely to find Lucasfilm President and Chief Creative Officer Dave Filoni as Trapper Wolf, Lucasfilm Art Department’s Doug Chiang and Michelle Thieme, as well as episodic directors Deborah Chow, Lee Isaac Chung, and Rick Famuyiwa.
17. Some things you may have noticed on the walls of Lord Janu’s office walls: a nexu, vexis, reek, and barghest!
18. Oh dear. Listen carefully and you may recognize the voice of Anthony Daniels, the longtime performer behind C-3PO. In The Mandalorian and Grogu he voices the Air Traffic Control droids who give the Mandalorian, Grogu, and Zeb clearance to land on Nal Hutta to meet with the Twins.
19. Jon Favreau hand painted the concept art model of Rotta the Huttlet, he even signed his name at the bottom.
20. Adult Rotta has the anchor-shaped tattoo of his family clan on the back of his head.
21. Seen orbiting Nal Hutta is a city-covered moon, a nod to Nar Shaddaa, the famous Smuggler’s Moon first featured in Star Wars comics in the 1990s.
22. There are several recognizable droids and helmets lining the bar at Adelphi Base, with parts of a probe droid, a mouse droid, and a discarded TIE pilot helmet among them.
23. Look closely and you may spot Fuzzball locked in one of the cages at the Salt Bar. Fuzzball was recently seen in episode 2 of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew and was first seen in Captain EO, a now defunct science fiction musical previously shown at Walt Disney Parks.
24. The popcorn-like snack Grogu eats during Rotta’s match is a ringer for Mantell Mix seen in Star Wars: The Bad Batch and Outpost Mix available for snacking when you visit Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Disneyland and Walt Disney World resorts.
25. While gathering weapons, Din Djarin arms himself with a new Amban rifle. More ornate than the version seen in Season 1, the weapon is a nod to the one carried by Boba Fett in his first appearance on screen in “The Story of the Faithful Wookiee,” an animated short that debuted in the Star Wars Holiday Special.
26. One of the arena weapons Din has to choose from is modeled off the Blades of Chaos used by Kratos in God of War.
27. Director Jon Favreau voiced Rio Durant for 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, the first appearance of the same Ardennian alien species as the Martin Scorsese-voiced Hugo Durant.
28 Among the labeled food items in Hugo’s food pod are containers of “Arkanian Tenderloin,” “Lira San Crackers” and “Lammas Tree Bites,” all from 2023’s Star Wars: The Ultimate Cookbook.
29. Mando’s homestead on Nevarro includes a paddock with a pair of blurrgs, a creature last seen in Season 1 of The Mandalorian.
30. Both a two-foot and four-foot physical model were created for motion control VFX shots of the new Razor Crest.
31. Real-life chef Roy Choi created the flat-meat sandwich for Hugo Durant’s food pod on Shakari.
32. The INT-4 vehicle that the Imperial warlord uses to escape the AT-AT walker is based on the 1982 Kenner Mini-Rig toy of the same name.
33. A Turtle Tanker, like the one Rotta the Hutt departs Nevarro in, first appeared in Season 4 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars in the episode “Brothers.”
34. Nal Hutta’s first canonical Star Wars appearance was in the Season 3 Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Hunt for Ziro.”
35. The Hutt fighter was inspired by a 1981 Imperial Shuttle design by Return of the Jedi production designer Norman Reynolds.
36. Warlord Commander Barro (Hemky Madera) was previously glimpsed in the holographic meeting of the Shadow Council in season 3 of The Mandalorian.
37. The AT-AT driver helmets were cast in light gray, matching what was done for The Empire Strikes Back. For years, many assumed them to be white, because of inaccurate lighting of behind-the-scenes photography. The original AT-AT driver armor was repainted black to serve as background TIE fighter pilots for the hangar scenes in Return of the Jedi.
38. Mando lost his whistling birds launcher from his left gauntlet at the end of Season 3 of The Mandalorian and has not replaced them.
39. Chief Evo, the ground crew tech who takes Colonel Ward’s helmet is played by Industrial Light & Magic’s Landis Fields.
40. The idea that Amani can move quickly by rolling is derived from a description in the original roleplaying game supplement that gave them their name, Galaxy Guide 12: Aliens – Enemies and Allies, published in 1995.
Come back for even more trivia and fun facts to celebrate the return of Star Wars in theaters now with Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu!
Din Djarin and Grogu embark on their most thrilling mission yet in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. Directed by Jon Favreau and filmed for IMAX, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu stars Pedro Pascal as the Mandalorian, Sigourney Weaver as Colonel Ward, and Jeremy Allen White as Rotta the Hutt. The film is written by Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, and Noah Kloor, and is produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Ian Bryce, Jon Favreau, and Dave Filoni, with Karen Gilchrist, John Bartnicki, and Carrie Beck serving as executive producers and music by Ludwig Göransson.
Get your tickets for Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian and Grogu, an all-new Star Wars adventure filmed for IMAX, exclusively in theaters now.