The Mandalorian & Grogu’s Major Connection To 1977’s A New Hope Explained (What Is A Dejarik Match?)

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Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Mandalorian & Grogu

As a huge Star Wars fan, I’ve been loving how The Mandalorian & Grogu really feels like classic Star Wars while still bringing fresh stuff to the table. I was genuinely surprised by the return of Rotta, Jabba the Hutt’s son – and Jeremy Allen White from The Bear voices him, which is awesome! It leads to a really intense showdown that Din Djarin, played by Pedro Pascal, gets pulled right into.

Okay, so seeing Rotta the Hutt back in The Mandalorian & Grogu was a real surprise! Honestly, it’s been a long time – we hadn’t officially seen him since the Clone Wars movie back in 2008, and even then it was just a brief appearance in the series that followed. It’s easy to forget, but when we first met him, Rotta was just a little kid during the Clone Wars, a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Rotta has become a powerful gladiator, fighting on a moon of Shakari. His final televised fight in The Mandalorian & Grogu was called a “Dejarik Match,” known as one of the most dangerous fights in the galaxy – and it was based on a famous scene from the 1977 film A New Hope.

Why Rotta The Hutt’s Final Fight Is Called A Dejarik Match

In The Mandalorian & Grogu, Din Djarin accepts a mission from the New Republic: rescue Rotta the Hutt and bring him back to his relatives, a pair of Hutt gangsters known as The Twins. The Twins promised valuable information about Commander Coin, a mysterious Imperial leader, in return. However, Djarin and Grogu are surprised to discover Rotta is thriving as a popular fighter on the planet Shakari.

Rotta, trained and funded by Lord Janu – later discovered to be Coin – thought he was close to earning his freedom. For years, Rotta had fought in the arena, and Janu had promised that one last match would finally allow him to leave, escaping the legacy of his deceased father.

Eventually, Din Djarin discovered that Rotta’s last fight was a setup. Janu had secretly arranged a deadly battle called a “Dejarik Match,” where Rotta was meant to be killed by dangerous alien creatures. Although Djarin attempted to rescue Rotta beforehand, he was captured and forced to fight in the arena himself.

Fans who’ve followed Star Wars for years will recognize “Dejarik,” the game Lord Janu uses with creatures he’s gathered from across the galaxy. These creatures served as the original models for the famous holographic chess pieces that first appeared in 1977’s A New Hope. The arena itself is designed like a Dejarik board, making it clear that Rotta and Djarin were trapped in a dangerous, real-life version of the game.

49 Years Later, The Mandalorian & Grogu Brings A New Hope’s Holo-Chess To Life

The holographic chess game, Dejarik, has shown up in many Star Wars projects, including The Force Awakens, The Clone Wars, Solo: A Star Wars Story, and The Bad Batch. But its origins actually go back almost fifty years to A New Hope, where Chewbacca and R2-D2 famously played it on the Millennium Falcon.

Dejarik is a popular game often seen in the background of Star Wars movies and shows. You can actually buy a playable version at Galaxy’s Edge in Disney parks, complete with official rules and game pieces. It’s a two-player game where players take turns attacking and moving their creatures until only one player has creatures remaining on the board.

The series The Mandalorian & Grogu brings several creatures from the Star Wars universe to life on screen for the first time. These include the Ghhhk, Grimtaash, the tiny Houjix (which stuns its prey with electricity), the large, club-wielding Kintan Strider, the K’lor’slug, the Monnok (who fights with a staff), and the enormous Mantellian Savrip. A particularly memorable scene shows a Savrip lifting and slamming a Kintan Strider, mirroring a move Chewbacca used against R2-D2 in A New Hope and Tobias Beckett in Solo.

As you’d expect, the Dejarik game between Din Djarin and Rotta in The Mandalorian & Grogu gets chaotic, with the creatures breaking free and running around the city of Shakari. But it’s a fantastic and exciting scene, cleverly linking the entire Star Wars saga – from the original film to this latest story.

The Mandalorian & Grogu is now playing in theaters from Lucasfilm.

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2026-05-24 18:21