Star Wars: The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal Describes His Reaction The First Time He Saw Baby Yoda

It didn’t take long after last November’s premiere of Star Wars: The Mandalorian for The Child, aka Baby Yoda, to become a worldwide phenomenon. Even countries that didn’t yet have access to Disney+ were filled with people talking about the adorable little creature, who ended up running away with every scene of The Mandalorian‘s first season. Baby Yoda hype is infectious, and not even the other folks involved with the show are immune to his charms. Just ask Pedro Pascal, the star of the entire series.

Pascal was likely one of the first people outside of the creative brain trust at Lucasfilm to learn about Baby Yoda. During a recent interview with Variety, Pascal explained that executive producer Jon Favreau brought him in and showed him a room full of storyboards and concept art in order to convince him to take the leading role. During that first visit, Pascal laid eyes on Baby Yoda and knew that he would be a big deal.

“Literally, my eyes following left to right, up and down, and, boom, Baby Yoda close to the end of the first episode.” That was when I was like, ‘Oh, yep, that’s a winner,’” said Pascal.

Unsurprisingly, Baby Yoda had that same effect on just about everyone that had a hand in bringing The Mandalorian to life. A big key to the show’s success, however, was keeping the Child a secret until the series made its debut.

“Baby Yoda was part of this from the beginning. We didn’t know exactly what Baby Yoda was going to look like, and we didn’t necessarily call him Baby Yoda. But yes, he was a part of this,” explained Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy.

“All of us were attracted to the character as he evolved And we knew when he was on the set from how everybody was reacting that he would certainly be a popular character. But I don’t think anybody quite anticipated the degree to which he would catch on. That, I have to say, was a bit of a surprise. We knew enough to keep him secret. But we keep a lot of things secret on Star Wars.”

What was your reaction to Baby Yoda the first time you saw him? Are you excited for the second season of The Mandalorian? Let us know in the comments!

Star Wars: The Mandalorian returns to Disney+ with its second season on October 30th.