If you’re deep in Star Wars lore, you probably caught quite a few Easter Eggs in The Mandalorian and Grogu when it finally hit theaters last weekend on the 2026 movie schedule. I’ll admit I’m not the most versed in every aspect of that deep lore, but I have watched the original Star Wars about 1000 times (give or take). That meant that I definitely caught what I would say was the biggest Easter Egg in the whole more: The Dejarik fight on the planet Shakari.
Holochess Comes To Life
Even casual fans of the Star Wars franchise know what Dejarik is, even if they don’t know the name. For many years, it was simply called “Holochess” or “that game that R2-D2 and Chewbacca are playing on the Millennium Falcon” in the original movie. The game made a reappearance in non-hollow form in Rogue One, and we saw the holochess version in Solo: A Star Wars Story. In fact, that was the same board seen in the original, canonically. It’s been mentioned or seen in other places throughout Star Wars’ various shows as well.
In The Mandalorian and Grogu, the game board and, most frighteningly, the monstrous creatures that make up the pieces, are lifesize. And by life-size, I mean huge and scary. We first hear mention of Dejarik when Mando and Grogu arrive on Shakari ostensibly to rescue Rotta the Hutt. Mando finds out from Janu Coin, the crime boss on the planet and owner of Rotta’s contract, that Rotta’s final match will be a “Dejarik match.” I’ll admit, I didn’t catch it at first, until I got a jab in the ribs from my friend sitting next to me. “That’s the game from the Falcon,” he whispered.
The Battle Royale Doesn’t Disappoint
The plot point that sees Rotta’s life owned by someone else, and being more or less forced to fight in the pits, is reminiscent of Gladiator, but instead of other gladiators and lions, Rotta and Mando must fight all of the monsters first seen in Chewy’s and Artoo’s game in Star Wars. While I wasn’t expecting a lot of franchise-shifting twists in The Mandalorian and Grogu, I did expect a few Easter Eggs, and this was by far my favorite.
The fight was awesome, as Mando and Rotta battled it out on the pit floor, which was modeled after the game as well. There are a lot of details, and the first thing I did when I got home was to pull up the original with my Disney+ subscription and look hard at the game of Dejarik. That confirmed for me how much care went into giving The Mandalorian and Grogu an old-school Star Wars feel, and making reference to the OG movie in a really fun way is a big reason the film surprised me with how much I enjoy it (and I’m not alone).
