In The Mandalorian and Grogu, The Bear and Deliver Me From Nowhere star Jeremy Allen White plays Rotta the Hutt. The surprisingly ripped son of iconic Return of the Jedi villain, Jabba, the character was first introduced as a pint-sized infant in The Clone Wars.
Rotta has done a lot of growing up since then, and he's clearly a very different Hutt compared to his father. In an interview with Empire Online (via SFFGazette.com), filmmaker Jon Favreau revealed, "[Rotta’s] in top form, fighting in the pits, a gladiator of sorts."
Jabba didn't speak "Basic" when he appeared on screen, but with White lending his voice to Rotta, Favreau confirms that he'll primarily speak English. He adds, "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? I get a kick out of that."
The Mandalorian creator likened Rotta to Adonis "Donnie" Creed in the Creed movies, and White—whose voice has been modulated in post-production—explained that, in the recording booth, his focus was on finding the right tone for the Hutt's voice.
"My speaking voice changes [as Rotta]. It was helpful, of course, to listen to Jabba," the actor said, promising that he speaks "a little bit of Huttese" in The Mandalorian and Grogu.
With these remarks comes our best look yet at Rotta in action. He was teased in both trailers for the movie, and you may have spied some promotional images floating around on social media this week. Well, those are AI-generated fakes, but the real shot you can see below makes it clear that Rotta stands a chance of being the Star Wars franchise's deadliest Hutt yet.
In 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, the movie also stars Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White and is produced by Jon Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, Dave Filoni, and Ian Bryce, with music composed by Ludwig Göransson.
The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives in theaters on May 22.