How Grogu Puppet Was Brought to Life for 'The Mandalorian and Grogu'

Disney shared a look at the work that went on in the background to bring Grogu to life for The Mandalorian and Grogu, now in theaters.

Bringing Grogu to Life

Director Jon Favreau and Pedro Pascal on the set of Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu.

Legacy Effects has worked for nearly a decade to perfect the Grogu puppet, working in conjunction with the visual effects staff at Industrial Light & Magic. “The advances in animatronics and robotics combined with the advances in CG just brings new life to characters that might have been a very traditional approach,” says Legacy Effects Co-Founder Alan Scott, “but then they’re just elevated to the next level.”

Even Scott and his crew can’t always tell where the puppet ends and the CGI begins.

Visual effects and a physical puppet are just the beginning of the team behind Grogu. Every time Grogu made an on-screen appearance, a team of four or five puppeteers would bring him to life.

“[Jon Favreau] directs the puppet and then everyone knows what their responsibility is,” Scott said in a release. While four or five individuals were needed just for Grogu (Mike Manzel, Dawn Diniger, Jason Matthews, Trevor Hensley, and Victor Broadley), on filming days with the four Anzellans, there could have been up to 25 puppeteers on set for all five little creatures.

Grogu sitting at a table using the Force to move a bowl closer to him.

Although Grogu had been in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, he had to do new activities in the film that required even more preparation, like swimming. But his involvement in the story is something of importance to Favreau:

“He wants Grogu to grow,” Scott said of director Favreau. “He’s got a story to tell. The baby is much more active [in the film]. He’s basically now a little protégé to Mando. [Favreau] wanted him to be able to live in Mando’s shoes and work with him and train with him and be his little apprentice in an interesting way that was still naïve and child-like, but at the same time served the story.”

The Mandalorian and Grogu is currently in theaters, though it’s had a low box office opening. Watch the final trailer below: