The Star Wars animation supervisor has pulled back the curtain on some of the biggest challenges on The Mandalorian and Grogu. The behind-the-scenes anecdotes come just two days before its Disney+ streaming debut
The animation supervisor on The Mandalorian and Grogu, Hal Hickel, has revealed which VFX element from the movie was the most challenging to bring to life. In a recent interview with Comic Book Movie’s Josh Wilding, the Academy Award-nominated artist shared that bringing Rotta the Hutt to life was particularly challenging.
“Rotta was, out of many animation challenges on the show— it feels sometimes like an animated creature— Rotta was easily the single most difficult thing to do,” Hickel shared. “Partly because, as you mentioned, he’s ripped. He’s not just sort of a big sedentary blob like we used to see. He’s got to be able to move fast at times and be kind of a warrior Hutt.”
The VFX artist added, “And then he’s got this ripped physique… And still with kind of a layer of fat over that. So technically that’s difficult, and design-wise that’s difficult, but figuring out how to move him quickly was incredibly super difficult. We looked at elephant seals, we looked at sumo wrestlers, we looked at loads of different things.”
Hickel added that the creative team had to “root for” and “care about” Rotta. “And so that was part of the challenge. So movement, but also emotion. Motion and emotion, I guess you’d say, were the two big challenges. And super fun, though, as an animation challenge,” he said.
Other visual effects challenges behind the film
During the interview, Hickel also shed light on other difficult VFX sequences from The Mandalorian and Grogu. Discussing the Dejarik sequence in the arena, Hickel said, “I think the difficulty with the sequence was the complexity of it.” He noted that the scene was a big set piece and it required bringing eight creatures, in addition to Rotta and Mando, together.
Hickel also talked about getting the comedic timing right on the scene where Grogu is eating a scorpion-like creature that was crawling on Mando. “Humour is probably the hardest thing to do, particularly in the visual effects animation world,” he shared.
The Mandalorian and Grogu will arrive on Disney+ on September 2, 2026. The movie stars Pedro Pascal, Jeremy Allen White, Jonny Coyne, Martin Scorsese, and Sigourney Weaver.
