We’ve all been subjected to different levels of what scientists have called “Star Wars Bullshit Nonsense” over the decades. But The Mandalorian and Grogu might be reaching a new level with the live-action debut of Rotta the Hutt, son of crime lord Jabba (RIP, but not really) and voiced by Jeremy Allen White.
In a recent Empire interview, White and director Jon Favreau briefly talked up the now-grown Hutt. While White talked up the performance side of things—he “listened to Jabba” to get his voice Hutt appropriate—Favreau compared the character to Michael B. Jordan’s Adonis Creed in that they’re both defined by the respective actions of their late fathers. “When you’re trying to establish yourself and your name is famous, when you’re Jabba the Hutt’s kid, what does that do? How has that affected his trajectory?”
That is… incredibly sad when you think about it. Rotta has been MIA since his debut in 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, where he’s just a walking plot device, and the idea of him now being in a state of arrested development after his father’s death sounds interesting. If Star Wars is going to be about sons and dads, turning that attention onto the son of someone who absolutely got what was coming to him isn’t the worst idea in the world.
But the problem is, this feels like too good of an idea to be a side plot, if that, for a movie like The Mandalorian and Grogu. The way Favreau describes Rotta’s situation, we should be watching him rise through the gladiatorial ranks and struggle with becoming his own man instead of being a guest star in Din Djarin’s story. It wasn’t that long ago that Jabba was supposed to get his own movie, and if Lucasfilm is still married to the concept of a Hutt-led feature, Rotta would be one way to do it.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is bringing in several animated series alums like Zeb (from Star Wars Rebels) and Embo (Clone Wars), so Rotta feels at home here as a Glup Shitto among many. Unlike Zeb or Embo, though, he’s got a bit more to prove , since anyone not in the know about him has seen promos and wondered if Jabba came back when they weren’t looking. Love or hate his inclusion here, he’s got something to strive for by stepping out of his father’s shadow both in-universe and to audiences, regardless of whether they’re Clone Wars-pilled.
We’ll find out on May 22 if Favreau and Dave Filoni are using this movie to test the waters for doing more substantial stuff with Rotta down the line or if this is just more of Filoni having fun with his toys. Either way, we’ll probably be talking about this weirdly buff Hutt and his daddy issues for a while.
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