Star Wars sequel movie officially casts Jabba the Hutt's son

We just received a new casting update for the next Star Wars film and I’ll be honest, I don’t think anyone on the internet saw this one coming.

As revealed by Variety’s Adam B. Vary, Jeremy Allen White will be joining the upcoming Disney film The Mandalorian & Grogu as Rotta the Hutt, son of Jabba the Hutt.

The actor is probably best known for their starring role in the Emmy-awarding winning FX show The Bear, their 10-year stint as Phillip "Lip" Gallagher in the TV show Shameless, and more recently in the critically acclaimed 2023 film The Iron Claw.

Variety’s Adam B. Vary did note that there’s not much known about White’s role in the upcoming film, however, one specific tidbit did catch my eye.

“Jeremy Allen White has joined the Star Wars film The Mandalorian & Grogu as the voice of Jabba the Hutt’s son, Rotta the Hutt, Variety has confirmed,” Vary revealed.

So, as it’s specifically a voice role, I suppose that does sort of imply that mo-cap work is out of the question. Although, there may be a good reason for that.

Rotta the Hutt was born in 32 BBY, assuming their appearance in Star Wars: The Clone Wars is still canon.

ICYMI: We recently sat down with the cast of Skeleton Crew.

It’s assumed that the last season of The Mandalorian was set somewhere around 11 ABY, and that The Mandalorian & Grogu is set not too long after.

This would make Rotta the Hutt roughly 43 years old, which is relatively young for a Hutt.

Hutts are still considered children before the age of 70 and they grow slowly. For comparison, Jabba the Hutt was roughly 600 years old when he died in Return of the Jedi.

To me, this all implies that Rotta will still be pretty tiny (as he has been in every other appearance thus far). This is probably why Jeremy Allen White is only providing the voice of the character, as mo-capping a big old slug wouldn’t be necessary.