Baby Yoda continues to reign on the internet by mercilessly spawning fan tributes and memes that add to his cuteness and dominance. Though if you’ve watched the season finale of The Mandalorian, you’ll know that the mysterious entity is, as of yet, unnamed.
Indeed, as the highly acclaimed Disney Plus show wrapped up almost two weeks ago, fans were left with many unanswered enigmas. Baby Yoda, who’s addressed as the Child or the Asset in the series, is still on the run from the remnants of the Empire with his surrogate father the Mandalorian, whose name was revealed to be Din Djarin. But Jon Favreau isn’t giving everything away just yet, which has led fans to wonder if the Child will ever be named.
Well, according to Taika Waititi, Baby Yoda actually has a name that will be revealed further down the road. The director has had a busy year with the release of his new satirical picture Jojo Rabbit, but the filmmaker still had time to star in The Mandalorian as the droid unit called IG-11 and also direct the season 1 finale. Speaking with the NY Times at the Golden Globes, Waititi confirmed that Baby Yoda has a name and he knows it, but he won’t tell.
I also asked Taika about Baby Yoda, since he directed the MANDALORIAN finale. “He’s not named Baby Yoda!” Taika insisted. There is a name yet to be revealed, and Taika knows it but won’t hint. “I’ll wait for Favreau to give that away.”
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) January 6, 2020
It would seem that for the time being, ‘Baby Yoda’ will have to do. Though according to Disney CEO Bob Iger, Favreau has never been a fan of that nickname.
“In this particular case, The Child, or The Asset — because we don’t refer to The Child or The Asset the way the world is referring to as ‘Baby Yoda’ — that’s a no-no,” Iger previously said. “I got chastised, in my early emails to Jon Favreau, I referenced in my emails, ‘Baby Yoda.’ It just seemed easy. And I got my wrists slapped by Jon a few times. ‘It’s not Baby Yoda!’ ‘Okay, okay!’”
Fans will have plenty of time to speculate and theorize as to the identity and background of Baby Yoda until The Mandalorian comes back with a second run in 2020. For now, though, be sure to let us know your thoughts about the first season down below.
