Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Mandalorian & Grogu
One of the best new characters in The Mandalorian & Grogu is voiced by an unexpected Hollywood legend. Remarkably, director Jon Favreau somehow convinced fellow director Martin Scorsese to voice a brand-new Star Wars character, a role that is as surreal as it is massively entertaining.
While the appearance of Martin Scorsese’s alien character in The Mandalorian & Grogu is relatively short, it’s certainly memorable. Additionally, the character actually plays a fairly meaningful role in the Star Wars movie’s second act, providing Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin with some much-needed intel (while also making Grogu something to eat).
Even better, Martin Scorsese’s Star Wars debut secretly has some very cool connections to another major Star Wars movie. Combined with some other fun elements and Easter eggs that are easy to miss, Scorsese’s surprise Mandalorian & Grogu role is easily one of the movie’s best new characters.
Martin Scorsese Plays An Ardennian Fry-Cook On Shakari
In The Mandalorian & Grogu, Martin Scorsese voices an Ardennian fry-cook operating out of what’s essentially the Star Wars equivalent of a food truck on one of the moons of Shakari.
The four-armed alien briefly encounters Din Djarin and Grogu as the duo searches for Jabba the Hutt’s son Rotta, whom they’ve been assigned by the New Republic to recover for Jabba’s cousins known as The Twins in exchange for information on an Imperial warlord.
Although clearly nervous and not wanting to get involved, Scorsese’s character is ultimately convinced to help Din, first telling them where to find Rotta in Shakari’s fighting pits, and later providing intel regarding Lord Janu’s criminal operations (who’s secretly the Imperial warlord). Scorsese’s character also makes Grogu a “flat meat fry” sandwich, and it surprisingly features an egg yolk sauce from a mudhorn egg, calling back to Djarin and Grogu’s very first adventure together in The Mandalorian season 1 and the inspiration for Djarin’s mudhorn skull signet. It was the first time Grogu revealed himself as a Force user.
While it’s easily missed by those who don’t see the fuzzy mudhorn egg in the Ardennian’s kitchen, the egg sauce is definitely one of The Mandalorian & Grogu’s best (and literal) Easter eggs. However, the cool connections involving Scorsese’s new Star Wars character don’t end there.
While his name isn’t said out loud in The Mandalorian & Grogu itself, the movie’s credits and soundtrack listings reveal that Martin Scorsese’s character is officially named Hugo Durant, a name that should sound familiar to hardcore Star Wars fans.
As a four-armed Ardennian, Scorsese’s Hugo Durant is almost certainly connected to Rio Durant, the fast-talking Ardennian first introduced in 2018’s Solo: A Star Wars Story, the first of their alien species to debut in the franchise. Likewise, Rio Durant was voiced by none other than Mandalorian & Grogu director Jon Favreau, one of a handful of Favreau’s Star Wars voice roles.
Without a doubt, this is one of the most fun behind-the-scenes ties with two legendary filmmakers who now share linked characters within the overall Star Wars canon, and it totally fits with all the fun connections and callbacks Favreau and Dave Filoni love to put into their projects. Likewise, the first name “Hugo” is likely a nod to Scorsese’s 2011 movie of the same name.
While it’s admittedly a very small piece of world-building that will likely be missed by more general audiences, it absolutely helps make the galaxy feel more interconnected and lived-in, rewarding longtime fans of the franchise without detracting from the overall plot. The simple fact that Martin Scorsese has now played an alien fry cook in Star Wars is wild on its own. However, when combined with all these cool connections, Hugo Durant is easily one of the movie’s best supporting roles.
The Mandalorian & Grogu is now playing in theaters from Lucasfilm.
- Release Date
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May 22, 2026
- Runtime
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132 Minutes
