Star Wars: Will Mandalorian's Baby Yoda Appear in the Rise of Skywalker?

Star Wars is becoming the event of the fall season thanks to the one-two punch of The Mandalorian TV series and imminent arrival of the Skywalker Saga finale, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. So far, there's been little reason for fans to think that there would be any real crossover between the Star Wars TV Show and the final "Episode" of the movie saga - but now that doesn't seem like such a certainty. We still have a lot to learn about Baby Yoda (like what the character's actual name and backstory is), but given parameters of what we know so far, it's certainly possible that an older Baby Yoda could show up in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.

Warning: SPOILERS for The Mandalorian Episodes 1 - 2 Follow!

As you can see in the Star Wars timeline chart above, The Mandaolorian takes place soon after the Rebellion defeats the Empire, but still decades before the events of Star Wars: the Force Awakens and the larger Sequel Trilogy, which is set some 30 years after the Original Trilogy. The Mandalorian has so far told us that this young member of Yoda's species may look like a baby, but is in fact 50 years old - which would mean he'd be in the 75 -85 age range by the time of The Rise of Skywalker.

For comparison, Yoda was well over 850 years old in the time of the Prequel Trilogy, with his age confirmed to be 900 years old in The Empire Strikes Back. So even with the time span between Mandalorian and Rise of Skywalker, Baby Yoda would be more mature and capable in his Force powers use, but still young enough to be heartbreakingly cute!

Of course, before Baby Yoda can conceivably play a significant role in Rise of Skywalker, there are two caveats we must acknowledge:

1. We don't yet know if Baby Yoda survives The Mandalorian. Obviously this whole speculative thread could unravel if the little guy tragically dies.
2. We don't yet know how Baby Yoda fits into The Mandalorian's story. He could end up being the major MacGuffin he's presented as - or he could be a red herring, and his backstory could be the major connective thread to Rise of Skywalker (especially if he's a clone, as has been hinted).

That all said, the Star Wars sequel trilogy has definitely played with major themes of the circular nature of history. The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi both recycle character and narrative arcs of the Original Trilogy into new beginnings for new heroes. The third film bringing in a cutesy alien character to aid the heroes in the final battle would certainly be keeping with the tradition of Return of the Jedi. Hell, go for a cuteness overload and have Baby Yoda lead an army of Ewoks and Porgs into battle.

On a more serious note, Rise of Skywalker has a rumored subplot that could see Rey (Daisy Ridley) and co. travel to Poe's home planet of Yavin 4, where powerful Force-sensitive tree exists. That's the popular theory behind Rise of Skywalker scenes that show Rey training on a woodland planet and making contact with Carrie Fisher's Leia: it's speculated that this location could amplify the Force enough for Rey to make contact with Force ghosts of Jedi masters - it wouldn't be surprising to find that Baby Yoda was also laying low in that Force-rich landscape, working on his own training.

Do you want to see Baby Yoda in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? Let us know in the comments.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker hits theaters on December 20th. The Mandalorian is currently streaming on Disney+, with new episodes every Friday. If you haven't checked out Disney+ yet and you want to give it a go, you can do that here.

Note: This is not a sponsored post, but if you purchase one of the awesome products featured above, we may earn a small commission from the retailer. Thank you for your support.