For all its other plus points, by far the most popular aspect of The Mandalorian is Baby Yoda. In an ingenious move, Lucasfilm decided to keep the presence of the little guy a secret, holding him back from the marketing so that he would have a huge impact when he was surprisingly revealed in episode 1. Well, it worked and The Child, to give him his proper moniker, is now the internet’s favorite thing. So, don’t expect him to be written out of the show anytime soon.
In fact, it seems that Baby Yoda will continue to be the driving force of season 2. The debut run saw Pedro Pascal’s titular Mandalorian making sure his mysterious client didn’t get hold of The Child for his own nefarious purposes. The final episodes of the season then revealed this client to be Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito). The last time we saw Din Djarin and his young charge they were flying off into space, believing they had defeated Gideon. However, the villain survived, with the powerful Darksaber in his possession.
Sure enough, sources close to WGTC – the same ones who told us young Luke will appear in the Obi-Wan series and that [SPOILERS] would be revealed as a traitor in The Rise of Skywalker, both of which we now know to be true – are saying that Gideon will be after Baby Yoda again in season 2. It’ll reportedly be established that he wants The Child to help him understand the Force better and also in the hopes that he can turn him to the Dark Side. After all, with a powerful young Force-user like him in their ranks, the Imperial remnants could build a new Empire. What’s more, we’re hearing that Djarin will be setting off across the stars in the hopes of finding The Child’s homeworld and returning him to his family to keep him safe from Gideon.
Teases from cast and crew have already hinted at a greater focus on Baby Yoda in season 2, with voice actor/director Taika Waititi promising that The Child does have an actual name. Meanwhile, showrunner Jon Favreau isn’t ruling out the notion that the kid could be related to Master Yoda. Presumably, we’ll also uncover the mysteries of Yoda’s species at some point, too.
Of course, plans can always change before The Mandalorian season 2 arrives on Disney Plus this fall, but this is definitely the direction that Lucasfilm is heading in at the present moment and given that this intel comes to us from the same sources who also revealed Rey was Palpatine’s [SPOILERS] way back in September, we have no reason to doubt it.
