The Mandalorian and Grogu's deep cut Clone Wars bounty hunter has a bizarre link to Dave Filoni and a French Smurfs book

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Embo speaks French… sort of

Pedro Pascal as Din Djarin unmasked in The Mandalorian and Grogu
(Image credit: Disney)

The latest Mandalorian and Grogu trailer revealed that a deep cut Clone Wars character, Embo, would be making his live-action debut.

But, there's a pretty hilarious story behind Embo involving Dave Filoni, co-creator of the animated show.

"I needed a way to come up with a language for Embo," Filoni shared. "My editor, Nic Anastassiou, who is French, he had some of his Smurf books, all written in French, because his son Alex comes in and reads them sometimes. So, I just picked one of these up, and I cannot speak French. And I opened it up, and I intentionally pronounced these French words very poorly. It just so happened that Nic liked it, and [Steward Lee] the director liked it. So, in the end, I am Embo."

Interestingly, Filoni also reveals in the featurette that Embo was originally meant to die. "In the original story, he died. Everybody was watching it, and everybody was like, 'Ah this Embo, we really like this Embo.' Not because of the voice, but because the action was cool," Filoni explained. "Suddenly, people were saying, 'We shouldn't kill him.' Then we had to reshoot it, and Embo then was alive. So Embo's out there now. Who knows what Embo's future is going to be, but he's got a cool hat."

It turns out Embo's future is going head-to-head with the Mandalorian himself.

The new trailer for the Star Wars movie still keeps the plot fairly mysterious, but it does reveal that Din Djarin is unmasked multiple times, and that Grogu appears to have a solo quest of some kind involving his Force powers.

It also reveals that none other than Martin Scorsese will have a surprise cameo in the film, voicing an Ardennian character.

The Mandalorian and Grogu arrives this May 22. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows for everything else that's on the way.

Molly Edwards
Molly Edwards
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.

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