As the main creative driving forces behind The Mandalorian, who both happen to be lifelong Star Wars fans, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni would have known full well that Baby Yoda was going to go down a storm online.
However, even the dynamic duo were surely surprised by how quickly the adorable little critter captured the hearts and minds of audiences around the world to become a genuine pop culture phenomenon, while the marketing team would have been rubbing their hands in glee at the countless billions of dollars in merchandise revenue guaranteed to come their way.
It took thirteen episodes before The Mandalorian got around to revealing The Child’s backstory, but the revelations were worth the wait. As well as establishing that Mando’s surrogate son was present at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant when Anakin Skywalker slaughtered the younglings during Revenge of the Sith after Order 66 was activated, we also found out that his real name was Grogu.
Of course, 99% of fans have been calling him Baby Yoda since day one and that’s not going to change, no matter how much Lucasfilm might want it to. Favreau has also chastised people for referring to The Child by his more well known moniker, but this new name could still take a little while to catch on.
In any case, during a recent interview, Filoni explained why The Mandalorian waited so long to reveal Baby Yoda’s history, and said that the shared connection to Anakin between Grogu and Ahsoka Tano made her the ideal candidate to drop the bombshell.
“The name has been around for a while. Jon told me early on in Season 1 what it would be, which made me start to think about how people could learn the name. This gave me the idea that Ahsoka, who is very compassionate, would be able to connect with the child, and that without words they could probably communicate through memories and experiences. Through that connection, she learns the name and then tells Mando and the audience. I felt that if anyone would know or understand The Child’s history it would be Ahsoka. She has such a long history as well. By having her relate the story it also helps the viewer to understand some of her own backstory.”
The Mandalorian has finally unraveled some of the mystery behind The Child, but with Mando and his charge on their way to yet another planet in an effort to find out additional information, there are guaranteed to be a few more big reveals throughout the last three episodes of season 2.
