The Mandalorian Director Addresses Baby Yoda Possibly Going to the Dark Side

Ever since his debut in the series premiere of The Mandalorian, “Baby Yoda” (whose real name was recently confirmed as “Grogu”) has been a source of unadulterated joy for Star Wars fans, though recent episodes of the series have shown that there could be a darker side to his personality, sparking theories that he might not be as wholesome as we thought. Director of the series Bryce Dallas Howard recently pointed out that, while she knows about Baby Yoda‘s overall trajectory, a key component of his development is to tap into those more layered and complex components of his personality instead of merely embracing his more innocent side.

“Well, I’m definitely not going to share any guesses, because I know,” Howard joked with Digital Spy about theories of the character going to the Dark Side. “But what I will say is that, for me, the joy of working with Baby Yoda is that, yes, it’s an intoxicatingly cute, adorable being, but you can only play that note so many times, right? That was a wonderful part of the journey for Mando and Baby in Season One, but in Season Two, there’s an opportunity for the character of Baby – who, by the way, is not a baby; who is, according to human years, fully middle-aged. But to understand: ‘OK, who is this being?’ And it’s not just binary.”

She added, “Part of the power of what George [Lucas] created is that it deals with light and dark in a way that isn’t binary, and shows that the best of us have the ability to do terrible things. And the worst of us have the ability to do extraordinary things. So, that thematically, of course, is going to play a role in any Star Wars story. I’m all for characters getting fleshed out.”

With all of the best characters, particularly in the case of Star Wars, a character being good or evil is merely a matter of perspective. Especially in the world of The Mandalorian, with the lack of the Galactic Empire, there’s much less distinction between heroes and villains, so while we know that Moff Gideon has nefarious intentions with Baby Yoda, it’s unclear if the pint-sized character will succumb to these wishes or if he’ll merely channel his more violent tendencies to avoid this treacherous fate.

Season Three of The Mandalorian is set to debut on Disney+ in December of 2021.

What do you think of the director’s remarks? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!