The Mandalorian And Grogu's Best Easter Egg Comes Straight From The Original Star Wars

This article contains spoilers for "The Mandalorian and Grogu."

While the bounty hunter known as Din Djarin, aka The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), no longer works for criminals since aligning himself with The New Republic (which has a disturbing real-life parallel), the events of "The Mandalorian and Grogu" have forced him to engage with some pretty dangerous bedfellows: The Hutts. Ward (Sigourney Weaver), a former Rebel Alliance pilot and now a colonel and leader of the New Republic's Adelphi Rangers, wants to track down someone known as "Commander Coyne," but the problem is that no one knows what he looks like or if that's even his real name. Supposedly, the Hutts know how to find him, but they'll only give the information if Mando promises to return Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White) to them — the son of the infamous Jabba, and the rightful heir to the throne.

As it turns out, Rotta has been living as a champion prize fighter on a distant planet, the undisputed champion of Gladiator-style battles for screaming fans. Unfortunately for Rotta, the fights are run by Lord Janu (Jonny Coyne), reprising his role from Season 3 of "The Mandalorian." Doubly unfortunate for Rotta, Janu is also planning to kill him by making him fight in a Dejarik until he drops dead.

If the word "Dejarik" sounds familiar but you can't seem to place it, that's because it's the name of the holographic chess first seen in the original "Star Wars," played by R2-D2 and Chewbacca on board the Millennium Falcon. "The Mandalorian and Grogu" might be dividing critics, but the coolest Easter egg in the film is showing that this game of terrestrial battle chess is based on a real form of strategic combat, not unlike "Battleship" or "Risk" for us.

Dejarik, aka holochess, is the galaxy's version of chess, played with battling holographic creatures on a glowing checkered board. After its appearance in the original "Star Wars," the game quickly became one of the franchise's most memorable pieces of sci-fi worldbuilding. The memorable scene takes place aboard the Millennium Falcon as Chewbacca faces off against R2-D2 while traveling through hyperspace. When the Wookiee appears close to losing, Han Solo warns C-3PO that upsetting Chewbacca is a bad idea because Wookiees are known for tearing their opponents' arms off. This prompts the famous advice endlessly quoted by "Star Wars" fans for generations: "Let the Wookiee win."

The board game was designed by visual effects artists Phil Tippett and Jon Berg and served as an early showcase of holograms and 3D effects in science fiction, decades before augmented reality entered mainstream culture. The game later resurfaced across the franchise, including in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," "Solo: A Star Wars Story," and animated series like "Star Wars: The Clone Wars."

Within "Star Wars" lore, Dejarik is a strategic combat game played on starships during long hyperspace journeys. Players command holographic creatures, each with unique abilities, and matches end when creatures clash and destroy one another. Interestingly, the game's rules remain largely undefined. While fans have created countless versions over the years, no official rulebook exists. Even the number of game pieces is debated: early designs featured 10 creatures, though George Lucas ultimately chose the cleaner eight-piece setup seen in the original film. However, we now know that Dejarik is based on real in-universe confrontations, which raises the question: How many other planets regularly sanction Dejarik battles?

Mando learns that Lord Janu has planned a Dejarik match for Rotta, set up as a boss rush to the death. No matter how many opponents Rotta defeats, Janu is going to keep throwing fighters at him until he's too weak to fight back. This also implies that we now know the rules of Dejarik as a board game. Even more interesting, the different fighters Janu has sought out to fight Rotta are the same fighters shown on the Dejarik board. This implies that to be a true Dejarik, there is a pre-determined roster of aliens that the main fighter must take down to win. According to StarWars.com, the roster is as follows:

• Mantellian Savrip: A large, reptilian, semi-sentient brute known for its massive arms and aggressive slams.
• Kintan Strider: A large, hairy, club-wielding biped from the planet Kintan.
• K'lor'slug: A highly venomous, centipede-like insectoid species.
• Houjix: A bizarre, cephalopod-like creature often used as a guard beast.
• Ghhhk: A predatory insectoid species with a hardened exoskeleton.
• Molator (Grimtaash): A mythical Alderaanian beast rumored to use bright flashes of light to defend against threats.
• Monnok: A predatory, canine-like creature known for its hunting prowess.
• Ng'ok: A furry, bipedal creature renowned in the game for its excellent defensive capabilities.

How Rotta fares in the Dejarik I'll leave as a surprise for those who've yet to see the film, but it was a real treat to see "The Mandalorian and Grogu" solidify one of the coolest aspects of "Star Wars" lore into something that has "real-world" implications throughout the galaxy beyond a board game.

"The Mandalorian and Grogu" arrives in theaters on May 22, 2026.