In these times of social and political division, one thing that’s united us all is our love for Baby Yoda. Disney Plus’ The Mandalorian debuted the diminutive member of Yoda’s mysterious species and now fans can’t get enough of the little guy. Given that we have Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker coming out just weeks after the series’ release though, is there a chance that Disney may attempt some synergy here and have The Child, as he’s officially known, show up in the film, even for a brief cameo?
According to director J.J. Abrams, the answer to that is no. The filmmaker was asked this while speaking on the red carpet with Variety’s Mark Malkin and, unusually for him, had a straight answer. “Baby Yoda is not in this movie,” Abrams assured us. When asked for his thoughts on the elfin infant, he added: “[He’s] the cutest thing in the history of time. How do you deny Baby Yoda? You cannot.”
J.J. Abrams confirms that Baby Yoda is unfortunately not in #StarWars: #TheRiseOfSkywalker, but he is the "cutest thing in the history of time" https://t.co/UtSgsD28vZ pic.twitter.com/5shLBoZi1K
— Variety (@Variety) December 17, 2019
Though more Baby Yoda is always a good thing, there are couple of big reasons why he couldn’t show up in Rise. One is simply to do with logistics, as it would have been tricky to have the TROS and Mandalorian production teams collaborate in order to get the character in the movie. Lucasfilm was also being super-secretive about his existence, so extending his role like that would’ve increased the risk of leaks.
What’s more, Rise is set around 30 years after the events of The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda is 50 years old in the series, due to the species ageing slower than humanoids. So, fast forward a few decades and he’d likely be Kid Yoda by then. There may be a place for us to see the little critter grow up in the future of the franchise, but it won’t be in Episode IX.Â
Thankfully though, there’s still plenty more to look forward in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, arriving this Friday.
