One of the standout characters from the The Mandalorian and Grogu trailer was Rotta the Hutt, son of Jabba the Hutt — despite the fact we only got a single second look at him. Rotta, last seen in The Clone Wars as Rotta the Huttlet, is now all grown up and, clearly, a big fan of the gym.
The trailer shows Rotta the Hutt in a sort of gladiator arena, either hyping the crowd up as host or involved in a fight himself. Mando and Grogu are in the audience, watching on.
Rotta is voiced by Jeremy Allen White, who, while chatting on The Graham Norton Show to promote his new movie, Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere, touched on his role in The Mandalorian and Grogu. After saying he couldn’t say too much about it (as you’d expect), he issued a tantalizing tease:
“He’s just a bit broader, but still like a Hutt. It’s kinda like him and The Mandalorian running around for a lot of the movie together.”
So, Rotta can run?
“Rotta can move quickly, yes.”
The suggestion here is we’ll see Rotta play a significant role in the movie, partnering up with Mando. And while he can’t run in the sense that we would run with, you know, legs, Rotta can “move quickly,” which is sure to be quite the sight in live-action. Perhaps he’s just really good at shuffling.
We don’t know much about The Mandalorian and Grogu in terms of the plot (this will surely change as we near the film’s May 2026 release date). For now, here’s the official blurb on Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu:
The evil Empire has fallen, and Imperial warlords remain scattered throughout the galaxy. As the fledgling New Republic works to protect everything the Rebellion fought for, they have enlisted the help of legendary Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and his young apprentice Grogu. Directed by Jon Favreau, Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu also stars Sigourney Weaver and is produced by Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Ian Bryce, with music composed by Ludwig Göransson.
The trailer also shows off Sigourney Weaver’s character, Zeb in live-action, and a rebuilt Razor Crest. But the film’s biggest stars are, as the title of the movie suggests, Din Djarin, played once again by Pedro Pascal, and Grogu, aka Baby Yoda.
In the trailer we see Mando and Grogu scope out an Imperial base of some sort. The diminutive Grogu infiltrates alongside the even more diminutive Babu Frik, who made his debut in The Rise of Skywalker. We then see Mando and Grogu sit down for a chat with Sigourney Weaver’s character (the ever hungry Grogu uses the Force to try to nab some snacks, but Sigourney isn’t having any of it).
Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, meanwhile, is the muscle of the Ghost team, a Lasat honor guard who adopted the cause of the Rebellion against the Empire in much-loved animated series Star Wars Rebels. He made his live-action debut in a brief scene in The Mandalorian. Here we see him beat up stormtroopers, who fans will remember he nicknamed “bucket heads.”
The Mandalorian and Grogu is the first theatrical Star Wars movie since 2019’s critically panned Rise of Skywalker. While Lucasfilm has announced a number of new Star Wars movies in the years since, The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives six-and-a-half years after Rise of Skywalker. Star Wars: Starfighter, starring Ryan Gosling, is due out a year later, in May 2027.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
