In a genius move from the studio, we had no idea Baby Yoda was coming before The Mandalorian premiered on Disney Plus’ launch day the other week. As such, the reveal of the adorable little critter sent the internet into meltdown and he’s pretty much all anyone’s been talking about on social media ever since. Everyone’s hoping, then, that he’ll stick around the show for the long term and the good news is that this seems to be the case.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson spoke to The Wrap and the topic of Baby Yoda invariably came up. The filmmaker remarked that he had just visited the set of The Mandalorian a month ago and got a glimpse of the puppet in person. Now, Johnson doesn’t spell it out, but if this happened that recently then that means he saw him on the set during production of season 2.
“He’s amazing! I visited the set of The Mandalorian a month ago, and I spotted Baby Yoda in the corner and the producer shot me a look as if to say, ‘You can’t say a word!’ I’ve been holding that secret in my heart for forever now. And the memes are amazing. I’m very pro-Baby Yoda.”
For those of who are particular about these things, Baby Yoda isn’t the character’s actual moniker, of course. As Yoda’s species has yet to be given a name, this is just what fans have taken to calling him. Within the show itself, he’s referred to as The Asset or The Child. Presumably, as the season continues, more info will be revealed about the little guy and we may find out his real name and possibly one for his species, too.
As of Chapter 4 of The Mandalorian, Pedro Pascal’s bounty hunter has turned against his guild in order to protect The Child from harm, having last touched base on the planet Sorgan. We’ve got four more episodes to go in season 1, with Chapter 5 airing next Friday, December 6th.
