Star Wars: Yoda Actor Weighs in on the Popularity of Baby Yoda

After his debut in the first episode of The Mandalorian, “The Child” became one of the most talked-about elements of the show, earning the obvious nickname of “Baby Yoda,” but the actual Yoda’s puppeteer and voice, Frank Oz, has not yet seen the show and only knows that many other people think the character is cute. The actor also pointed out that, for as much as he loved bringing the Jedi Master to life for a galaxy far, far away, he does get disappointed when he is viewed as having only performed that character, given his impressive accomplishments throughout his career.

“I have nothing to do with Baby Yoda,” Oz shared with IndieWire. “But I heard it’s very cute, and I’m sure Disney has a whole plan for it.”

He added, “I love doing Yoda. The only thing that bothers me is if people think that I only do Yoda. That’s not a good feeling.”

In addition to being intrinsically linked with Yoda, Oz is also known for performing Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy, Oz also directed films like Little Shop of Horrors and Bowfinger, while one of his biggest filmmaking opportunities came from directing The Dark Crystal with Jim Henson.

The second season of The Mandalorian was filmed earlier this year and is slated to land on Disney+ this fall. Given Baby Yoda’s prominence in the adventures of the first season and with the confirmation from director Robert Rodriguez that the character is appearing in the new season, Oz would be correct in his assumption that Disney has a whole plan for the pint-sized hero.

Part of what made the character’s debut such a success was due to Disney’s plan of keeping the character a secret ahead of his debut, even if it meant missing out on toy sales early on.

“I have to thank Disney and Lucasfilm, because the way the cat usually gets out of the bag with that stuff is merchandising and toy catalogs and things like that,” Favreau explained to Collider last year. “So they really back us up. We really wanted to have it be that you had to watch it yourself, so that every time you watch the show, there are new twists and secrets that come out. That requires a lot of restraint from the people who are footing the bill, saying they’re gonna hold back on certain things so that the public doesn’t know ahead of time. Part of that was holding back on some of the merchandise and holding back on some of the characters.”

Season Two of The Mandalorian lands on Disney+ this fall.

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