Last week, io9 was among a group of journalists who were shown the first 18 minutes of The Mandalorian and Grogu, and you can read about that HERE/LATER/TK. The first is action-packed and a lot of fun, but it’s then followed by opening credits, which in and of itself is a new thing for Star Wars. No Star Wars movie has ever done that. In those credits, though, we saw what we believe to be a big clue as to what the rest of the film holds.
In the credits to The Mandalorian and Grogu, which play over shots of Mando, Grogu, and Zeb arriving at the New Republic base on Adelphi, Pedro Pascal is, of course, listed first. His stunt men and Mandalorian helpers, Brendan Wayne and Lateef Crowder, are then third and fourth. But the second person is none other than Jeremy Allen White, who voices the swole Hutt, Rotta.
In the film’s opening scenes, we learn that the film is about Mando trying to rescue Rotta from captivity in order to get information from the Hutts about a key New Republic target named Coyne. And, from the trailers, we know that Rotta is taking part in some kind of fighting event. But if Allen White is second billed, could Rotta end up going on the adventure with The Mandalorian and Grogu?
Of course, we don’t know for sure. But it is an intriguing possibility. For months, I’ve been trying to find something about this movie that stood out as different. Something that would justify its existence in theaters and not on Disney+. And Mando and Grogu potentially teaming up with a Hutt is certainly that. We haven’t seen a ton of the Hutts in Star Wars and have never really, in live action at least, followed one for a significant period of time. Mostly because that’s just logistically very, very difficult.
But, in the Los Angeles studios where Jon Favreau and his team made much of the film, not only do they have Rotta head sculpts and stuff; they have a live-action mini-Rotta, just like in The Clone Wars. Check out these images
Basically, it seems like a strong possibility that Rotta the Hutt plays a much larger role in this movie than we were expecting, which could be very cool. But, maybe, it’s also an argument against having opening credits in Star Wars. Do we really want or need to know who is coming?
The Mandalorian and Grogu opens May 22, and we’ll have more soon.
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