Star Wars: The Mandalorian Actor Giancarlo Esposito Addresses Being Overshadowed by Baby Yoda

The second season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian is only a few months away, and fans are eager to find out what’s next for the main characters, especially Baby Yoda. The first season ended with the reveal of Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) having the Darksaber, which probably spells bad news for Mando and his charge. Esposito recently had a chat with ET and talked about what it’s been like to act in a show alongside the megastar that is Baby Yoda.

“Look, you know, being on the set with this baby… We all, as cast members, Werner [Herzog] and myself, Pedro [Pascal], have all said different things about this very, very irresistible Yoda. I knew the first time I saw him he was going to be the star of the show.” He added, “I just reminded myself, ‘Do your part. Play nicely in the sandbox,’ ’cause it’s the cutest baby ever.”

“I know they went through great pains to figure out what that baby was gonna be physical, how and what it would be, and they… touched down in the right place. So, to be tied to this baby, it’s great. Just don’t let me catch you in season two,” Esposito joked.

After being warned that Moff Gideon better not harm Baby Yoda, he added, “I just want to spend all my time with him, so as close as I can get, I will get. And believe me, I’m good at getting close.”

You can watch the full video above.

A while back, The Mandalorian‘s showrunner Jon Favreau spoke about the inspiration behind Baby Yoda. “I think what’s great about what George [Lucas] created is that Yoda proper, the character that we grew up watching, was always shrouded in mystery, and that was what made him so archetypal and so mythic. We know who he is based on his behavior and what he stands for, but we don’t know a lot of details about where he comes from or his species. I think that’s why people are so curious about this little one of the same species.”

The second season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian is expected to premiere in October. In addition to The Mandalorian, other upcoming Star Wars series will include a show that stars Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story which is set to feature the return of Diego Luna as Cassian Andor and Alan Tudyk as K-2SO.

The first season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian is currently streaming on Disney+.