Jeremy Allen White is perhaps best known for his award-winning role as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto in the FX series The Bear, but he has just dished up some exciting new details about his forthcoming Star Wars debut. The actor has officially confirmed earlier reports that he is portraying Rotta the Hutt, the son of Jabba the Hutt, in The Mandalorian and Grogu. The character made a brief appearance in the first trailer for the film, which is set to continue the story of Din Djarin and his Force-wielding sidekick Grogu from the Disney+ series, The Mandalorian, but now White has provided some insight into Lucasfilm’s next big screen adventure.
During an appearance on The Graham Norton Show, White was asked about his recent journey to the galaxy far, far away and whether the character he is playing is Rotta the Hutt. “That’s correct,” he asserted before confirming that Jabba is his “dad” and that his role is strictly “voice work.” It sounds like Rotta will play a significant role in the story alongside Pedro Pascal‘s Mandalorian, though he couldn’t share too many details about the plot. “It’s kind of like him and the Mandalorian running around for a lot of the movie together,” White revealed. When asked by Norton if Rotta could run, White clarified: “Rotta can move, yeah, quickly.”
Rotta the Hutt debuted in the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars as the baby son of Jabba the Hutt, who the Separatists kidnapped to frame the Republic and lure Jabba into joining their cause. However, the Jedi later rescued Rotta and safely returned him to Jabba. An older Rotta made his return in the trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu, throwing his muscular arms up in the air to the cheering crowds of a packed-out, gladiator-style arena. His perceived physical prowess, combined with the fact that he can move “quickly,” suggests that Rotta will be quite a different beast to that of his father – a slow, bloated, sluglike figure.
Why Is Rotta So Different From Jabba?
The Mandalorian and Grogu follows on from the third season of The Mandalorian, with the film’s titular duo joining forces with the fledgling New Republic to protect everything the Rebellion fought for. The story takes place decades after the events of The Clone Wars when Rotta was only a little Huttlet. His new battle-hardened appearance in the forthcoming film is a stark departure from his early years as an infant and also from previous portrayals of the Hutts on-screen. Writer-director Jon Favreau told Screen Rant in April that the Star Wars Extended Universe had a heavy influence on how they approached the character. He explained:
“We definitely draw inspiration from Extended Universe and the Hutts are just an interesting group… And they were explored slightly in the, you know, through Jabba and what we saw when we were growing up. But then with Filoni, with animation, they really delved into it. And then, of course, all the accompanying materials, like the comics, like Grakkus – that was, I think, his name, Grakkus? – was a cool, one of the Hutts that was really strong. So there’s all different types and in animation too. So there’s a lot of imagery that’s been explored. And now with technology, it’s fun to explore what you can do with species that you could never show.”
While fans have had their first look at Rotta in The Mandalorian and Grogu, the character has yet to speak. It is unclear whether White’s character will speak in Huttese like his father, Jabba, or if Rotta will talk in Basic (The Star Wars in-universe term for English) like his uncle Ziro the Hutt in The Clone Wars, but what we do know is that he won’t be the only Hutt making an appearance. The poster for the film featured the Hutt twins, Jabba the Hutt’s cousins, who previously showed up in The Book of Boba Fett. They are anticipated to be antagonists, possibly in conflict with Mandalorian and Grogu – and maybe even Rotta the Hutt.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is slated to arrive in theaters on May 22, 2026.
- Release Date
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May 22, 2026
- Sequel(s)
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Dave Filoni’s Untitled Mandalorian Movie