Jeremy Allen White joining the Star Wars franchise, and it’s not a role you’d expect

Here’s a little Star Wars news for you on this fine Monday afternoon. While appearing on The Kristian Harloff Show, scooper Jeff Sneider revealed that Jeremy Allen White will join the Star Wars franchise in The Mandalorian & Grogu. He even said he knows which role The Bear actor will be playing, and it’s probably not what you’re expecting.

Sneider has heard it will be a voice role, with White helping to bring Rotta the Hutt to life. That’s right. The character is the son of Jabba the Hutt and was first seen in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie when he was just a wee lad. Deadline has since confirmed White’s involvement in The Mandalorian & Grogu, adding that it will be a “notably sized role” and not a mere cameo. As this will be a voice role, it would leave White open to a live-action role in the franchise at some point down the road.

Beyond Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin/The Mandalorian, the only other confirmed cast member is Sigourney Weaver. It’s not clear who the actress is playing in the movie, but she has said that she got to meet Grogu.

White has a number of big projects on his slate. In addition to the highly anticipated fourth season of The Bear, he’s also set to star as Bruce Springsteen in Deliver Me From Nowhere. The movie will be about “Bruce Springsteen and the long effort to put together his seminal Nebraska album, which started to take shape as he and the E Street Band were laying down tracks for his massive hit album Born in the USA.” It will be an adaptation of Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska by Warren Zanes, which was published last year. Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) will write and direct.

The Mandalorian & Grogu recently wrapped production and will be released in theaters on May 22, 2026. It will be the only Star Wars film released that year as Disney has pulled the other Star Wars movie off the schedule. It was never clear which project that was, but it was believed to be the one that would feature Daisy Ridley’s return as Rey.

What do you think of Jeremy Allen White joining the Star Wars franchise as Rotta the Hutt? I can’t say I expected that casting.