Star Wars: George Lucas Had One Main Concern About Grogu in The Mandalorian

George Lucas may have officially parted ways from the franchises he created, allowing Disney to do with Star Wars what they will, but given his connection to his creations, he has been known to drop by productions or offer advice to filmmakers, with the recently released book The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Season Two) revealing some of Lucas’ hopes for Grogu, a.k.a. Baby Yoda. In the book, producer on the series Dave Filoni noted that Lucas hoped Grogu would enter training to hone his skills with the Force, with the Season 2 finale featuring the arrival of Luke Skywalker to start the training process.

In the book, Filoni recalls, “I had a talk with George, at one point, about the Child, and his main concern was that the kid has to have a proper amount of training.”

While this surely wasn’t a mandate enforced by Lucas, Filoni has been working closely with the franchise creators for years, with their collaborations over the years almost mirroring the in-world concept of a master and padawan. How much Lucas’ concerns with the character directly impacted Grogu’s future vs. what Filoni and creator Jon Favreau were planning for the character anyways isn’t entirely clear, but surely longtime fans will be happy to know that The Mandalorian addressed what Lucas hoped would be handled.

In the Season 2 finale, Grogu bid farewell to Din Djarin to go train with Luke, but as audiences saw in the debut season of Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett, that training didn’t entirely go as planned. Understandably concerned about Grogu’s wellbeing, Din asked The Armorer to melt the beskar he acquired to turn it into protective armor that would fit Grogu. When Din went to Luke’s burgeoning training facility, Ahsoka Tano intervened to let Din know that a key part of Grogu’s training would be to cast aside personal and emotional connections to his past.

In the penultimate episode of this season of The Book of Boba Fett, Grogu was presented with the choice of either reuniting with Din Djarin or continuing his trajectory towards becoming a Jedi. The season finale then depicted Grogu’s path towards a reunion with his former guardian, giving audiences an ending in which the pair head out into the galaxy for many more adventures.

The Mandalorian Season 3 is expected to debut on Disney+ later this year.

What do you think about Lucas’ input for the character? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!