Baby Yoda’s swift fall from grace so soon after The Mandalorian‘s return has been a marvel to behold, to say the least.
For those who aren’t quite up to speed on why the show’s adorable green-skinned alien has lost a legion of followers, the controversy stems from season 2’s second episode, “The Passenger.” During a mission to reunite Frog Lady and her unfertilized eggs with her husband, The Child, cold, hungry and stranded, takes to chowing down on several of the passenger’s children-to-be before being reprimanded by his guardian.
The scene, which many critics labelled as offensive for a number of reasons, has subsequently been defended by fans as well as members of Lucasfilm, including Phil Szostak, who attempted to defuse the situation by likening the act to that of a human eating chicken eggs. Fortunately, last week’s episode, “The Heiress,” managed to reestablish a sense of normality by giving Frog Lady her well-deserved happy ending, with Baby Yoda himself briefly shown playing with the recently hatched offspring.
The furor has since died down considerably, then, though that hasn’t stopped IGN from asking Star Wars actress Daisy Ridley what she made of the entire debacle. Speaking to the site remotely in order to promote her upcoming film Chaos Walking, Ridley, when quizzed about the subject, responded:
“Oh, cancel culture,” she says with a chuckle, adding, “Look, Mando’s gotta eat, Yoda’s got to get strong. That’s just that. I think it’s funny, because in a way, The Mandalorian, I feel, is slightly closer to Chaos Walking, in a way, because of the western feel of it.”
When asked if there was any personal objection to the episode’s contents, she continued:
“No, I’m like, ‘Yoda, do your thing.’ The creature [Frog Lady] got to be where she needed to be with the eggs. It’s all good. It was beautiful.”
With any luck, Ridley’s comments will only help put the debate to rest for good, though who knows what the future holds for Baby Yoda. After all, with several episodes still to go until The Mandalorian‘s second season comes to a close, there’s plenty of opportunity for the character to upset audiences for myriad other reasons.
