The Mandalorian & Grogu's main villain was finally given their time in the spotlight on an official new poster for the upcoming film. It can not be stated enough that The Mandalorian & Grogu is the most important Star Wars project in many years, and potentially since 1980's The Empire Strikes Back. The film's success could directly determine what the future of the franchise looks like in terms of feature films, and if the Disney+ shows will continue to be made at the same level as they have been. Luckily, the upcoming movie will seemingly have strong villains to give it a bit of a boost.
A brand new poster for The Mandalorian & Grogu was officially released by Disney and Lucasfilm in China as the marketing campaign for the first Star Wars movie in seven years continues. Of course, the poster features Pedro Pascal's Din Djarin and his foundling, Grogu, front and center, but a menacing villain looms over the two in the background.
Embo, a character who was introduced in the animated Clone Wars series, can clearly be seen in the top right portion of the movie poster. Notably, he is the only one of the film's major antagonists on any of the posters, and the fact that he is depicted so large in this particular image suggests that he could be the main villain of the movie.
This is not the first time Embo has been seen in marketing material, and it is also not the first time Lucasfilm has teased that he will have a huge role in the project. Recently, as shared by @Mando3Updates via X, a stand-up marketing graphic for The Mandalorian & Grogu was spotted in what appears to be a mall, and on one side of the image, Embo is standing all by himself, taking up a large portion of the image.
Embo's full role in The Mandalorian & Grogu has not been revealed yet, and it is still a secret who has hired the bounty hunter, but the trailers and TV spots have made it clear that he is after Din Djarin and Grogu, and could actually be successful in capturing the former.
His character design in the upcoming flick looks extremely accurate to the way he did in The Clone Wars, as he can be easily identifiable by his large hat and mostly covered face.
It seems as though Embo and Din Djarin may be playing a bit of cat and mouse in The Mandalorian & Grogu, and that the two could develop a bit of a rivalry throughout the movie's 132-minute runtime.
While the poster indicates that Embo could be the main villain in the movie, many fans are still wondering if a more sinister force is pulling the strings behind the curtain.
Is Embo the Main Villain in The Mandalorian & Grogu?
Embo is a great choice for a villain in a Star Wars movie, especially when the main protagonists of the movie are Din Djarin and Grogu. Embo's presence alone will make the movie feel more similar to the early episodes of The Mandalorian, as he is, at his core, a more Western-like character, just like Din Djarin was in the first season of the Disney+ show.
Most likely, Embo will have the most screentime of any villain in The Mandalorian & Grogu. However, that does not necessarily mean that he will be the project's main antagonist, and, honestly, he probably won't be.
Embo is a bounty hunter, just like Din Djarin used to be. He will not be going after Din Djarin and Grogu for personal reasons or for revenge. Instead, he will simply be working for money, which means someone will have to hire him. Some fans believe the Shadow Council (the leaders of the remaining forces of the Empire) will be the ones to hire him, and one theory even suggests that Sigourney Weaver's character will turn out to be a villain trying to get Din Djarin killed, but neither of those forces seems big enough for a Star Wars movie.
Instead, it seems far more likely that the main villain of The Mandalorian & Grogu will be Lars Mikkelsen's Grand Admiral Thrawn. After all, The Mandalorian & Grogu is a firm part of the MandoVerse, and it was most recently established in Ahsoka Season 1 that Thrawn had made his way back to the Star Wars galaxy.
If everything is building to an Heir to the Empire-like movie or Disney+ show, Thrawn will be the main villain of it, and what better time to integrate him into the Mandalorian storyline than have him be the big bad of the first Star Wars movie in seven years.
If Thrawn shows up in the movie, he will likely only have a minute or two of screentime. His appearance hasn't been confirmed, or really even rumored, but it would almost seem like a waste of a project not to use him as the connective tissue between Ahsoka and The Mandalorian & Grogu.
