The Mandalorian And Grogu Brings Back An Underrated Bounty Hunter
Din Djarin isn’t the only hired gun in the galaxy.
It’s been said that The Mandalorian and Grogu is basically “Glup Shitto: The Movie,” which, depending on the kind of Star Wars fan you are, can be a good or bad assessment. There are a lot of minor characters from other corners of the galaxy popping up in the film, some of which already have niche fandoms of their own. From Jeremy Allen White’s Rotta the Hutt (who first appeared as a baby in The Clone Wars) to the Anzellans who made The Rise of Skywalker worth watching at all, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu have an ensemble full of zany creatures to play against. Watching them all interact is a little like wading through Lucasfilm’s toy chest: director Jon Favreau has not made a film so much as he’s smashed a bunch of action figures together. But is that so terrible when it’s an action figure you personally love, rendered on the big screen (and in live-action) for the first time?
The Mandalorian and Grogu does as much to Embo, another holdover from The Clone Wars. Like Mando, he’s a proficient bounty hunter — he gives our clan of two a real reckoning when he pops up in the film — and one of very, very few words. That makes his appearance in The Mandalorian and Grogu a bit of a mystery. Where did he come from? Why is he working for the Hutts? We don’t get much context in the film itself, so here’s everything you need to know about Embo.
Spoilers ahead for The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Mando and Grogu run into Embo after running afoul of the Hutt syndicate. Our heroes were meant to deliver a now-grown Rotta the Hutt to the acting leaders of the clan, The Twins — but upon meeting Rotta, Mando decides to cut him loose and let him live his own life. After all, his aunt and uncle reportedly planned to murder him so they could rule the Hutt syndicate unchallenged. But no good deed goes unpunished for Mando: when the Twins are denied their bounty, they send another hunter to capture both Din Djarin and Rotta. That’s Embo, a Kyuzo known for his trademark hat (which functions as much as a shield as it does a weapon) and his agile fighting style.
Embo first appeared in an episode of The Clone Wars called “Bounty Hunters,” which followed Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Ahsoka Tano as they teamed up with a bunch of (you guessed it) bounty hunters to protect a small farming village. The episode, like so many Star Wars stories, was not-so-subtly inspired by Seven Samurai; the name of Embo’s alien race, Kyuzo, even nods directly to a character from the Akira Kurosawa movie.
The Mandalorian and Grogu doesn’t explain Embo’s origins — but at least it knows his value.
Though he fights for the underdog in his first appearance, Embo later proved that he’ll go wherever there’s coin, establishing a working relationship with the Hutts later in The Clone Wars. Not much has been established about his fate after the Clone Wars. One comic appearance in Flight of the Falcon revealed he’d returned to a life of farming after the end of the Galactic Civil War — but seeing as he’s back in the Hutts’ employ in The Mandalorian and Grogu, it’s safe to assume that little tidbit has been retconned. It’s not like Embo gets much time to chat about his life or his past: he’s downright nonverbal in the film, reduced to a lot of silent smoldering and a few knife-edge fights with Mando himself. Yes, his role is shallow, but it’s still fun to see him make the jump to live-action. Embo has long been one of the saga’s most underrated bounty hunters, and though The Mandalorian and Grogu fail to deliver much substance, it at least recognizes his value.
