Who Is Rotta The Huttlet? Jeremy Allen White's Star Wars Character, Explained

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The trades are reporting that Jeremy Allen White, star of "The Bear," has been cast in "The Mandalorian & Grogu," the upcoming "Star Wars" film being directed by Jon Favreau. He's not the first actor from "The Bear" to join the "Star Wars" universe either. Allen's co-star Ebon Moss-Bachrach previously took on the role of Arvel Skeen in "Andor" season 1 to much critical acclaim. The part White is set to play has taken everyone a bit by surprise, though. According to reports, he's going to be voicing Rotta, the son of Jabba the Hutt. When "The Book of Boba Fett" premiered and Boba Fett began taking over the late Jabba's former territory, Rotta's existence suddenly became a massive plot thread that had been dangling out in the open since 2008. Fortunately, it sounds like "The Mandalorian & Grogu" will finally address that.

But who, exactly, is Rotta the Hutt? How old is he? Where did he come from? Here's the complete rundown on why he's such a fascinating character and why we're glad this loose thread is getting tied up once and for all, especially with an actor as august as Jeremy Allen White.

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Turn your clocks back to 2008. George Lucas had only just revealed he'd made an entire season of a new animated series called "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" and sold it to Cartoon Network. Warner Brothers, the owners of Cartoon Network, then decided it needed to recoup some of its investment and scotch-taped a handful of episodes together for a theatrical release. Although critics panned the subsequent "Clone Wars" feature, it still pulled in almost $70 million at the global box office against a budget of less than $10 million, making it a wild commercial success for WB. Meanwhile, the actual film served as an introduction to not just the "Clone Wars" series, but also the future fan-favorite character Ahsoka Tano, making her the Padawan of Anakin Skywalker. Together, she and Anakin were drawn into a plot to rescue Jabba the Hutt's son Rotta. 

Rotta himself (seen above) was, at the time that "Clone Wars" takes place, a small huttlet who could fit in Ahsoka's backpack. Lucasfilm even made action figures with him as an accessory to Ahsoka, as well as plushy Rottas that came with backpacks. Though he was adorable, he was overshadowed by the likes of the porgs and Grogu in short order.

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Jabba's huttlet son Rotta was a significant part of Count Dooku's plot early in "Clone Wars." The Separatist leader had kidnapped the poor kiddo and had his apprentice Asajj Ventress hide Rotta away in the hopes of framing the Republic for his kidnapping. With the Separatists and Republic both vying for the favor of the Hutts to use their hyperspace routes during the war, Dooku figured framing the Republic for this kidnapping would put the Separatists over the top. Luckily, Anakin and Ahsoka were able to rescue the huttlet and uncover the plot, ingratiating the Republic in the eyes of Jabba and foiling Dooku's schemes. 

Of course, that was only after Ahsoka and Anakin went on a swashbuckling adventure with Rotta, whom Ahsoka dubbed "Stinky" and developed a special relationship with along the way. It's quite a touching storyline that tends to get a bad rap because it was released out of chronological order with the "Clone Wars" series and out of the context of television. Revisiting them now, if you watch the series in chronological order, the "Clone Wars" movie doesn't actually come first and works much better the second time around.

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Anakin, Ahsoka, and Captain Rex attacked a monastery on the planet Teth to rescue Rotta the Hutt, who had gotten sick during his travels away from his father. This led to a stunning battle, with the trio even battling Asajj at one point. Anakin handled as many of the heroics as he could on his own, leaving his then brand-new Padawan to take care of young "Stinky." Rotta, unfortunately, started to go pallid during the rescue mission, recalling E.T.'s ashen skin when he gets sick in "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial." This, in turn, forced Ahsoka to use her wits to synthesize a cure and save the young huttlet's life.

When Anakin and Ahsoka were finally able to reach Tatooine in an effort to reunite Rotta with his father, the great Jabba the Hutt, they found Count Dooku waiting for them, still hoping to frame the Republic for the young Hutt's kidnapping in the first place. As such, Anakin and Ahsoka pulled a bait and switch, with Anakin filling the signature backpack Rotta had been carried in full of rocks and confronting Dooku while Ahsoka and "Stinky" made their way across the deserts of Tatooine by themselves.

Eventually, the heroes were able to bring the child back to his delighted papa and open the hyperspace routes for the Republic, ultimately foiling Count Dooku's machinations and leaving Rotta and Jabba to live happily ever after (at least until Jabba's death). Or did they?

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That's the real question, isn't it?

The truth is, no one really knows what happened to Rotta the Hutt after the events of the theatrical "Clone Wars" feature. He never showed up on the "Clone War" series after that and has been noticeably absent from any other canon "Star Wars" project released up until this point. Anytime someone would bring him up in fan circles, it was almost as though someone from the Lucasfilm story group would walk up to you at a party and whisper in your ear, "No one cares."

Though Jabba appeared in quite a lot of episodes of the "Clone Wars" TV show after the movie, Rotta never did. Other "Star Wars" films and shows have declined to even hint at his fate since then. For that reason, some fans were disappointed when the Twins showed up in "The Book of Boba Fett" to try and take Jabba's old territory away from Boba rather than Rotta. But now, hearing that Jeremy Allen White will be taking on the role, it seems that Lucasfilm may've simply been saving him for something special.

"The Mandalorian & Grogu" is set to reach theaters on May 22, 2026.