Why Those Deadly Underwater Creatures In The Mandalorian And Grogu Look So Familiar
by Bryan Young · /FilmIn "The Mandalorian and Grogu," the titular pair are forced to do battle with Hutts known as the Twins. Powerful crime lords, the Twins have an expansive arsenal of allies at their disposal, and they're willing to send them all to their death in order to kill Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal). That includes the Droid Gotra, the enigmatic bounty hunter Embo, their pet dragonsnake, and even the individual Amani they send to track him down.
Those Amani, whom the Twins send through the waterways of Nal Hutta to hunt Din (forcing him to confront them with deadly force), should look familiar to eagle-eyed "Star Wars" fans. Indeed, they've been part of the fabric of a galaxy far, far away for well over 40 years, having first appeared all the way back in 1983's "Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi" in the halls of Jabba the Hutt's palace.
The Amani character in question was a bounty hunter named Amanaman and was brought to life by the puppeteer Ailsa Berk. On the "Return of the Jedi" set, the film's creatives would often refer to Amanaman by the nickname "the Banana Slug," as it bears a striking resemblance to that real-life critter. Amanaman even got an action figure in 1985 as part of Kenner's Power of the Force toy line. Should you happen to have one lying around still in its package, it goes for quite a handsome price.
Amanaman has shown up in other "Star Wars" projects as well, even popping up in the "Star Wars" comics by Charles Soule. (Notably, Soule's other works include this comic about the trouble Boba Fett had delivering Han Solo to Jabba.) However, the Amani themselves were also a key part of a famously unfinished arc for the animated "Clone Wars" series.
The Amani in The Mandalorian and Grogu were part of an unfinished Clone Wars arc
On screen, the Amani haven't been featured much outside of "Return of the Jedi." That being said, they were once slated to be part of a never-completed three-episode "Clone Wars" TV show storyline known as the "Crystal Crisis" arc. That particular narrative was a mystery set on Utapau that saw Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker chasing down a giant Kyber Crystal. These episodes were well into production when "Clone Wars" was initially canceled, but the show's creative team elected not to finish them when the show was revived for its final season on Disney+. Nevertheless, their story reels were later released for everyone to see.
The plan was to depict the Amani in "Clone Wars" as entities that reside on Utapau and are considered quite dangerous. Living in tribes, they could curl up into balls and roll around to move. Not only that, the idea was that they existed in places beyond Utapau, too, including on their homeworld of Maridun and on other planets as refugees.
For fans of Black Spire outpost (itself part of Galaxy's Edge at Disneyland), the Creature Stall owner, Bina, is actually an Amani who hails from Utapau. It's proof positive that not every Amani in the "Star Wars" universe is a bounty hunter or lethal tracker like the ones that pursue Din in "The Mandalorian and Grogu."
"The Mandalorian and Grogu" is now playing in theaters.