Rotta the Hutt, the infant son of Jabba the Hutt who appeared in the 2008 animated film "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," is returning to the franchise as a grown adult in "The Mandalorian and Grogu." Jeremy Allen White will play the role, and the filmmakers behind the project say the character's return was a natural fit for where the story needed to go.
In an interview with Screen Rant, co-writers and producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni discussed what it meant to bring Rotta back after nearly two decades. Favreau said he had always been fond of the character, to the point where Rotta edged out even Grogu as his favorite young Star Wars character before Grogu was created.
Favreau traced his attachment to Rotta back to the fan response that greeted Grogu's debut. "First of all, it starts with Dave, with his first, with Clone Wars," Favreau said. "I learned about [sic] because when Baby Yoda, when Grogu was first revealed, online it was like, 'He's cool, but here's my favorite baby from Star Wars, and they would show pictures of little Rotta the Hut.'"
Favreau also revealed that a hand-painted model he made of Rotta at filmmaker Guillermo del Toro's house ended up replacing the film's original CG version of the character. He said there are now plans to turn that painted model into a collectible figure.
Filoni, who directed the original Clone Wars series, credited writer Henry Gilroy with pitching both Rotta and, years later, a baby Yoda-type character. The combination struck Filoni as an odd coincidence.
"I remember being with Henry Gilroy when he was writing Clone Wars when we first started out, and he pitched this idea of this child Hutt, and I was like, 'Okay, I don't know, maybe sure let's try that,'" Filoni said. "And then years later, he comes in, and he's pitching a baby Yoda, and I'm like, 'What is going on where I'm always somehow conveyance for these child characters?'"
Filoni added that Rotta was never an obvious candidate for a comeback. "I never thought Rotta would come up. I mean, I've often wondered about him, and where he's gone on, but when you were like, 'Hey, I think Rotta, I think there's a thing here.'"
In the film, Rotta's return is tied directly to the plot. Mando and Grogu are tasked with tracking down Imperial Commander Coyne, and the Hutts hold information on his location. Before they will share what they know, they ask the two to complete a task for them first. Both Favreau and Filoni co-wrote the film, which Favreau is also directing.
