Is Baby Yoda in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker?

We're just a matter of days away from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but the film has already been the source of quite a lot of conversation and speculation. Fans are curious to see exactly how the film brings the decades of the "Skywalker Saga" to a close, and what other cameos and Easter eggs are introduced along the way. Unfortunately, one Star Wars character who has commanded the pop culture world this fall is not set to be a part of that. ComicBook.com can confirm that no, The Mandalorian's Baby Yoda does not appear in The Rise of Skywalker.

The topic of Baby Yoda's role in the larger Star Wars franchise has taken some interesting twists and turns in recent months, with some speculating that the character's arrival in Disney+'s The Mandalorian series was laying the groundwork for the events of The Rise of Skywalker. As the film's director, J.J. Abrams, confirmed earlier this week, Baby Yoda does not play a role in the Resistance's final plan -- but that doesn't take away from how adorable the character is.

"Baby Yoda is not in this movie," Abrams said in a recent interview. "[He's] the cutest thing in the history of time. How do you deny Baby Yoda? You cannot."

As Abrams argued in an earlier interview, the pint-sized creature - and the fandom that quickly popped up around him - is an example of what makes the Star Wars franchise so exciting.

"Look, I think that the fun of telling stories in this galaxy is that you get to take things that are familiar and you get to adjust them, augment them, comment on them, continue them," Abrams explained. "It's a world that is looking to be expanded. I mean, the original movies did the most remarkable thing in referencing the Clone Wars and the Empire and the Senate, and the Old Wars, and never showing any of these things. But the painting that was created of this past canvas, it's incredible how intimate it was. But you always felt that there was a peripheral life and history and world beyond what you were seeing. And for me, Star Wars is sort of constantly expanding and sort of ever-expanding. And the ability to choose a character like Yoda and say, 'What if we created a baby Yoda?'

"The reason these things are reasonable to people is because it's not just nostalgia but it's taken something that is meaningful, a story that has deep roots and potency and resonates with a human heart, a beating heart. These are the kind of things that, when they hit, when there's something that feels like, 'oomph,' it's not just cute but it implies a story. It sparks the imagination. That's the thing, whether it's bringing back Lando, and wanting to know what's been going on, to introducing a brand new character, and brand new droid or a brief glimpse of a baby Yoda. All these things are about the possibility, potential, and that's the very heart of what Star Wars is."

Are you upset that Baby Yoda won't be in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker lands in theaters on December 20th.