Jeremy Allen White Speaks ‘A Little Bit Of Huttese’ As Rotta The Hutt In The Mandalorian And Grogu

It’s casting that nobody expected. Jeremy Allen White – best known as Carmy in The Bear, and as Bruce Springsteen in Deliver Me From Nowhere – is joining the Star Wars universe in The Mandalorian And Grogu. But rather than playing a Mandalorian warrior, or an Imperial warlord, or even a fry cook (hey, there is one of those in the film, voiced by none other than Martin Scorsese), White is taking on a most unlikely voice role: Rotta The Hutt.

Yes, a Hutt as in, son of Jabba. A giant galactic slug. And, for devotees of The Clone Wars, the artist formerly known as baby ‘Stinky’. In The Mandalorian And Grogu – the big-screen outing for Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin, and his little green apprentice son – Rotta is back and all grown up, and about to cross paths with our heroes. And he’s more physically ferocious than you might expect, compared to the other members of his family tree. “[Rotta’s] in top form, fighting in the pits, a gladiator of sorts,” teases director Jon Favreau of where we’ll find him.

For White, the voice role saw him tackling the language fans saw Jabba speak in Return Of The Jedi. “There’s a little bit of Huttese,” the actor teases, though he’ll mostly be talking in ‘Basic’. While White is yet to see how Favreau filters his voice to get those booming Hutt tones, he did modulate his own performance in the booth, and revisited Jabba’s scenes to get in the zone. “My speaking voice changes [as Rotta],” he adds. “It was helpful, of course, to listen to Jabba.”

Just, how much of Jabba is in Rotta remains to be seen. Favreau likens the character to Adonis ‘Donnie’ Creed in the Creed movies, a character living in their father’s shadow. “When you’re trying to establish yourself and your name is famous, when you’re Jabba The Hutt’s kid, what does that do?” the director queries. “How has that affected his trajectory? I get a kick out of that.” Get ready to meet a Hutt like no other.

Read Empire’s full cover story on The Mandalorian And Grogu – speaking to Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White about Star Wars’ big-screen comeback – in the May 2026 issue, on sale Thursday March 12. Pre-order a copy online here. The Mandalorian And Grogu comes to UK cinemas on May 22.