Hal Hickel broke down the creature work and action design for The Mandalorian and Grogu at View Conference in Turin on October 14, 2026. The Industrial Light and Magic animation supervisor, who recently celebrated 30 years at the company, explained how the film blends digital effects, practical sets, mechanical rigs and classic stop motion thinking. Hickel said the team repeatedly asked, “What would Phil do?” as it looked to stop motion legend Phil Tippett , whose work on the original Star Wars trilogy helped define the movement of AT AT walkers and other large scale effects. Hickel even returned to Tippett’s former Berkeley facility to animate a Star Wars shot himself before the location closed. The action was built to feel dangerously messy For the opening AT AT battle, the artists revisited tests first developed for Rogue One, placing digital walkers into original trilogy footage to study the lighting, surface detail and deliberately handmade motion. The new walkers move even more slowly, while a full size interior set runs through a walker’s neck and into its movable head, giving the performers a physical space to play inside the machines. The AT RT created a very different problem. Animators studied ostriches, then transferred that movement into a six axis mechanical rig carrying the actors, but early tests shook so hard that Hickel joked Grogu might not survive. Jon Favreau wanted the ride to bounce without looking too quick or frictionless, and Hickel summarized the director’s action brief as “less James Bond, more Jackass.” The film also gives Rotta the Hutt, voiced by Jeremy Allen White , a major redesign that pushes the familiar Star Wars creature in a new direction.