ILM Reveals How It Brought Real Dejarik Creatures to Life for 'The Mandalorian and Grogu'

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) production animation supervisor Hal Hickel and his team detailed the process of bringing the iconic Dejarik creatures to life for the 2026 film The Mandalorian and Grogu, according to Industrial Light Magic. The creatures, originally seen as holographic game pieces in 1977's Star Wars: A New Hope, appear as massive, real monsters in a gladiatorial arena sequence in the new movie.

The idea originated with director Jon Favreau. Hickel recounted the director's vision, stating, "It was Jon’s idea that the holochess figures that you saw in the original Star Wars were just meant to be the Happy Meal toy version of an actual battling creature somewhere in the galaxy."

How did ILM design the real creatures?

The journey began with the Lucasfilm Art Department, led by production designer Doug Chiang, who created new designs based on Phil Tippett's original stop-motion holograms. The goal was to make them believable as ten-foot-tall beings. Lead CG modeler Masa Narita and his team then built detailed 3D models. "It was a dream come true," Narita said. "We had the opportunity to expand on their designs and add much more detail, still keeping their classic look."

Hickel emphasized the team's focus on realism. "When audiences finally see them onscreen, we hope they can imagine what their breath smells like or what it would feel like to put their hand on them," he said. To achieve this, artists studied real-world animal textures from creatures like rhinoceroses, alligators, and snakes.

What inspired their movement?

Animators looked to a wide range of references to create lifelike motion. For the Kintan Strider and Savrip, they studied gorillas and professional wrestlers to capture a sense of massive power. The movement for the K’lor’slug was inspired by Randall from Monsters Inc., while the Molator's run was based on the sideways gait of an orangutan. Hickel noted the animators' process: "we pre-animated the sequence as a way to work out the gags that we wanted to happen. It was very rough animation, not polished at all, but it gave us a sense of the shape of the sequence ahead of shooting."

This meticulous work transforms a fleeting 30-second holographic game into a key action set piece, grounding the fantastical creatures in a tangible reality for the big-screen adventure.