The Mandalorian and Grogu is a fun action-adventure Star Wars movie, designed to be a mostly self-contained story that doesn’t connect with any larger story so as to be more welcoming to general audiences.

With that being said, the final act of the film could have pretty significant implications in the Star Wars universe.

The climax takes place on Nal Hutta, the Hutt homeworld. Din Djarin was taken there as a captive, rescued by Grogu and the Anzellans, and nursed back to health by Grogu. They decide to fight back, and together Djarin and Grogu storm the Hutt Palace. They fight off the Droid Gotra soldiers, take out a few huge security droids, rescue Rotta the Hutt, fight Embo, and defeat the Twins. But then they have to try to escape, and as they’re pinned down the New Republic arrives. Led by Colonel Ward, the Adelphi pilots destroy the Hutt forces and bomb the Palace, destroying it.

In the movie, this is mainly about trying to provide a satisfying conclusion where the bad guys are defeated and the New Republic gets a big victory. But in-universe, this has tons of potential to blow up and shape the galaxy.

The New Republic could take some heat

For the New Republic, this could be a PR disaster. The irony isn’t lost that Colonel Ward, earlier in the movie, told Din Djarin that him hunting down Imperial warlords wasn’t about revenge but about trying to prevent another war… only to turn around and bomb the Hutt Palace on Nal Hutta. She definitely went FAR further than anything Djarin did, even though she was less than thrilled with his extreme tactics.

These are exactly the kind of actions that could bring further scrutiny on the New Republic, as I can already see someone like Senator Xiono (from the Ahsoka series) seizing upon it to make a point. And that could lead to the members of Aldephi Squadron being in some hot water – after all, a pretty small, remote group of pilots taking this kind of action seems like a big no-no. I mean, Hera Syndulla wasn’t even permitted to go investigate rumors of Thrawn’s return! There’s zero chance this mission to destroy the Hutt Palace was sanctioned by the New Republic.

I’m not holding my breath on any future stories exploring the implications of this any time soon, but I have to imagine that this one action won’t help an already fledgling Republic a whole lot in the court of public opinion. Sure, the Hutts are gangsters, and the Twins were aligned with the Empire. But bringing the whole Palace down because of that? There will surely be some who frown upon that.

After all, the Hutts operated without much resistance for centuries. Neither the Republic nor the Empire took this kind of radical action, to take out the Hutt Palace on Nal Hutta. This decision is a diplomatic nightmare for a government already struggling to enforce its standards, and this (almost certainly) unsanctioned mission could have further stakes.

The Hutts continue to lose power

Of course, the Hutts of this time are a far cry from that. The Hutt Council was mostly wiped out by Darth Vader in-between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, leaving Jabba the Hutt as the only living member of the Council remaining. His death at the hands of Leia Organa in Return of the Jedi, then, put an end to the Hutt Council and severely weakened the criminal syndicate. In the midst of that power vacuum, Bib Fortuna claimed the throne at Jabba’s Palace on Tatooine, but his reign was short-lived as he was killed and supplanted by Boba Fett. The Hutt Twins, cousins of Jabba, staked a claim on Fett’s territory but were rebuffed and driven away.

So the Hutts already had lost Tatooine to Fett, but their reach was all across the galaxy. The Twins made a play to be Jabba’s heir, which is why they wanted Rotta out of the picture. But by the end of this movie the Twins are dead, and the Palace on Nal Hutta destroyed. Now, let me be clear: the Hutts still live on. Gardulla the Hutt continued to live on Tatooine until she was killed by Kylo Ren in-between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker decades later, and others lived on in varying degrees of power across the galaxy.

All of this, though, is evidence of their power crumbling. From the Hutt Council being wiped out to Jabba being killed to the Twins’ futile bid for power to the destruction of the Palace on Nal Hutta, we are watching the influence of the once-mighty Hutts dwindle on the galactic scale. By the time of the sequel trilogy, they had been replaced in the Five Crime Syndicates of the galaxy (the five most influential and powerful criminal organizations). We’re seeing why.

The rise of the Droid Gotra

Interestingly, though, one of the Five Crime Syndicates by the time of the sequel trilogy was the Droid Gotra. This organization was a group of droids who were zealous to promote droid rights across the galaxy, and they were hired by the Twins as security on Nal Hutta. So it is the Droid Gotra that Din Djarin and Grogu, alongside the New Republic, really fight against in their attempts to take the Palace. But while the Hutts’ power seems to keep dwindling, we know that the Droid Gotra will keep rising.

This is the first time we’ve seen them on-screen in a live-action Star Wars project, and we don’t know a ton about them, but it’s interesting to see that this group that was hired to provide security for the Hutts winds up rising to power as the Hutts fall from it.

The state of the criminal underworld in the New Republic era

So, in summary, this one event could have massive implications. In this period of the galaxy’s history, the New Republic struggles to really maintain control and grow, which is why the Imperial remnants keep offering different people protection – which they claim is more than the Republic can give. The further you go from the Core, the more you find lawlessness reigning. So it is not a surprise to hear that the Twins were working with the Imperial remnants, because there’s a darkness rising in the outer reaches of the galaxy that few in the New Republic seem to be taking seriously. The Adelphi Rangers understand there’s a growing threat, but I’m not sure bombing the Hutt Palace on Nal Hutta without any authorization to do so will help their concerns be taken more seriously. I’m guessing actions like this one could lead the Adelphi group to be seen as a fringe group of radicals within the New Republic who are easily startled by apparent threats.

Perhaps the return of Thrawn will change that perception. But, judging by the New Republic’s lack of concern about the First Order growing in the Unknown Regions, I’m guessing not really.