Why Star Wars Director J.J. Abrams Was Thanked In The Mandalorian And Grogu's Credits

J.J. Abrams was vital to bringing "Star Wars" back in the Disney era, as he directed both 2015's "The Force Awakens" and 2019's "The Rise of Skywalker." Abrams fully intended to decline "The Force Awakens," but, instead, he shouldered the responsibility and ultimately started and finished the sequel trilogy, divisive though it may be. As it turns out, he even had a little bit of input on the latest film in the franchise, so much so that he even got thanked in its credits.

In an interview with SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), "The Mandalorian and Grogu" director Jon Favreau explained how Abrams helped out on the movie. Firstly, Favreau discussed how Lucasfilm creative head Dave Filoni was consulted about bringing Embo, a bounty hunter from the "Clone Wars" cartoon series that many "Star Wars" fans probably forgot about, into the movie. Per Favreau:

"We were developing the live-action version of him and showing Dave versions — we've got to show Dave. Because there's a special thing, when you use a [character] — even though it belongs to 'Star Wars,' if somebody came up with the character, you go [to them]."

That's where Abrams comes into play. Favreau also wanted to use the Anzellans, aka the alien race that Babu Frik, the adorable tiny droidsmith from "The Rise of Skywalker," belongs to. Babu Frik's alien race previously appeared in "The Mandalorian" Season 3, but Favreau still consulted Abrams for his film with regards to how the creatures were used:

"When I was working with the Anzellans, I called up J.J. And J.J. came to the set. Because you want him to know that, you know, 'I appreciate what you did. Can we — do you mind? Are we handling this well? Are you happy?' And with Embo, same thing with Dave."

It's nice that the directors working within the larger "Star Wars" universe have enough respect for one another to consult on the use of characters they introduced to the franchise. Disney and Lucasfilm own the characters, so that's certainly not, legally speaking, necessary. Rather, it's merely a polite, professional courtesy that undoubtedly results in creative collaboration. Dave Filoni also had a key behind-the-scenes role on "The Mandalorian and Grogu" as both a co-writer and second unit director, for example.

The Anzellans ended up being a huge part of the movie, too. It wasn't just a cameo. So, Jon Favreau having consulted here J.J. Abrams makes sense. That, in turn, explains why Abrams was thanked in the credits of the film. Of course, it's important to note that Abrams didn't create Babu Frik and the Anzellans single-handedly. He had a lot of help from another "Star Wars" legend.

"J.J. had an idea for a character who was a bit more like a fortune teller initially. He had some knowledge that was an important story point, and Rey was going to visit him in order to be able to glean this information. J.J. thought of him as living in his own little world," "The Rise of Skywalker" creature designer Neal Scanlan told /Film in 2020. "Functionally, one of the things that came out of these creative conversations was that we could do the character as a little rod puppet, but time goes on, and story ideas change and develop, and so did Babu's role."

From there, Babu Frik eventually became a droidsmith, leading to the creation of the Anzellans — themselves now a much larger part of the "Star Wars" galaxy.

"The Mandalorian and Grogu" is currently in theaters.