Fans have been questioning what the real name is for the adorable character lovingly termed as ‘Baby Yoda’. It’s obviously not actually a young Yoda, but without more detail from the show, it’s not clear what species this little guy belongs to or how he fits into the Star Wars universe.
Despite many online disagreements over what he should be called until there is an official word, the media title of “Baby Yoda” has stuck. What does the director of The Mandalorian have to say about this?
There is a lot of Star Wars lore and fiction out there. If the 12 (soon) movies aren’t enough for you, there are over a hundred different books and video games set in that world to give you a better understanding of the Star Wars Universe.
And fans of this series are intense. The official Fan Wiki, cleverly called Wookiepedia, has thousands of entries and hundreds of thousands of words in it that talk about canon details, side stories, and more.
Despite all this… no one really knows just what Yoda is, or what world he came from.
George Lucas said he did that on purpose, to keep the mystery and suspense around Yoda and his abilities intact. In all of the Star Wars universe, we have never had any explanation of what Yoda is, and we’ve only seen one other – Yaddle, who was a member of the Jedi Council in The Phantom Menace.
Until now, that is.
Dave Filoni, one of the directors of The Mandalorian, was at a press function and walking a carpet when a reporter from Entertainment Tonight stopped him. He asked if Baby Yoda had a name, or if it was okay to keep referring to him as such.
“That’s fine,” He said when she asked if there was a different name for the tiny green one. “all part of the mystery.” He promised. He called the nickname ‘Baby Yoda’ “very clear” in its description. Which… is true. But that doesn’t really help us understand!
Executive producer Dave Filoni who also worked on The Clone Wars told ET that he feels “a lot of responsibility” when handling the unknowns in the Star Wars universe.
“One of the reasons that I got interested in this story that Jon was pitching was the subject of this child. Knowing George [Lucas] and how important the character of Yoda is to him, I wanted to make sure that I could help shepherd this idea.”
He ended it with, “We still want to keep a lot of things a mystery… but let’s tell a story that’s interesting and compelling and add to this great galaxy.”
Also doesn’t help, Mr. Filoni.
Many fans speculate that the Baby Yoda story won’t even be realized in the first season of The Mandalorian, and we may never actually have more answers than we do right now.
The Mandalorian is only available for streaming on Disney+, and a new episode is released every Friday until competition.
