Look how they massacred my [Hutt]...
For some, the September 2025 trailer for the upcoming Star Wars film The Mandalorian and Grogu may have marked somewhat of a milestone for the franchise; at least in the sense that it is looking to be the Star Wars movie most removed from the series' main characters and settings.
But while it is certainly interesting to witness the exploration of previously underappreciated parts of the Star Wars universe, we can't help but think back to a missed opportunity which would've done the same, but with an even more unlikely protagonist: We're talking about the once in-development and now lost Jabba the Hutt film.
A Labor of Love
Jabba the Hutt, for those who are unaware, is the giant slimy slug monster in control of his own planet-spanning criminal empire first appearing in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983), where he kept captured co-protagonist Han Solo as a trophy before Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa freed the latter by killing the former.
Though his past had been somewhat elaborated on via his side appearances in subsequent material such as the prequel movies and TV series as well as the now-non-canon comics and books (and Fortnite), Star Wars fans never quite got to learn how the Hutt managed to get into his powerful position – a gap which director Guillermo del Toro sought to fill:
"I would do the sort of Godfather saga that Jabba the Hutt had to go through to gain control. One, because it's the character that looks the most like me, and I like him. I love the idea of a Hutt type of mafia, a very complex coup. I just love the character." – Guillermo del Toro, 2015
The comparison of the crime boss' story to the US-American gangster drama The Godfather (1972) is not completely out of the blue, considering Jabba's death scene was directly inspired by that of the character Luca Brasi in the film. Jabba himself was intended to epitomize the lust, sloth, gluttony, and greed of crime bosses and politicians profiting from war economies.
An Unfortunate End
After having expressed his affection for this monstrous design in 2015, director Guillermo del Toro and screenwriter David S. Goyer first began formal development on a Jabba the Hutt movie between 2017 and 2019. The project was undertaken within Lucasfilm during the same period that other Anthology titles like Rogue One (2016) and Solo (2018) were being developed.
Goyer confirmed that the film advanced beyond the concept stage, with extensive behind-the-scenes work and the creation of "a lot of cool artwork", while Del Toro later remarked that substantial effort had gone into its narrative. Considering that the original Jabba puppet from 1983 took three months and cost $500,000 to make, they were likely to heavily employ CGI.
However, following the critical and commercial failure of Solo (2018), Disney quietly cancelled the film, with both Goyer and del Toro claiming such in 2023. Del Toro has since reflected on the project, noting that, while he sometimes felt bitterness about the cancellation, he viewed the experience of having been able to work on Star Wars as valuable in its own right.
But what do you think? Would you have been interested in a less action-oriented (not to body-shame Jabba, but anything else seems logistically challenging) Star Wars film? Or would a mafia drama starring a 1.5-ton alien slug have been just too absurd to take seriously? Let us know in the comments!