Though you might not know it, there are in fact chefs in that galaxy far, far away. But never one to be typecast, The Bear star Jeremy Allen White is headed to space without his chef’s whites (or white T-shirt). Variety reports that the Golden Globe-winning actor has signed on to The Mandalorian and Grogu to play Rotta Hutt, the son of the infamous (and very dead) Jabba.
Obviously this is a voice acting role, but if you can’t stop imagining that guy in a slug costume, I’m sorry and I’m right there with you.
As Wookieepedia will tell you, Rotta was “nicknamed ‘Pedunkee Mufkin’ (translated as Punky Muffin) by his father and also nicknamed ‘Stinky’ by Ahsoka Tano.” The young Hutt—just a baby! just a foot-and-a-half-tall 55-year-old!—featured in The Clone Wars film. He was kidnapped in a plot orchestrated by Count Dooku; the intent was to discredit the Jedi, but those meddling kids saved Rotta and the day.
More recently—in the Star Wars timeline and our own—Hutt power struggles featured in The Mandalorian’s “The Book of Boba Fett” season. Jabba’s death led some of his relatives to fight over his territory, but none of them won. One does, I suppose, wonder how little Punky Muffin feels about that bounty hunter who fell in the sarlacc pit sitting on daddy’s big, murdery throne. No plot details have been announced for The Mandalorian and Grogu, but this bit of casting does suggest we may be returning to Tatooine again, and perhaps Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison) and the delightfully grumpy Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen) may also make appearances.
As for White, when he is not making seasons of The Bear, he is filming a biopic of Bruce Springsteen, which is almost as odd, casting-wise, as this new role. Let it never be said the man doesn’t make interesting choices.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is directed by Jon Favreau and written by Favreau and Dave Filoni. It also, somehow, stars Sigourney Weaver.
Punky Muffin and friends will arrive in theaters on May 22, 2026.
