The Mandalorian’s Pedro Pascal Reveals When He Learned Baby Yoda’s Real Name Is Grogu

The Mandalorian star Pedro Pascal was among the first to learn Baby Yoda‘s real name, a well-kept secret not revealed until midway through season 2 of the Star Wars series. In “Chapter 13: The Jedi,” written and directed by Dave Filoni, Din Djarin (Pascal) encounters Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) on the planet Corvus, where the former Jedi Ahsoka connects with Din’s cooing child through the Force. Din learns his ward’s name for the first time when Ahsoka reads the child’s mind, revealing him to be Grogu — a former Jedi youngling trained by many masters at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

“I did know [before the episode],” Pascal told Entertainment Tonight, revealing he discovered Baby Yoda’s real name “at the start of season 2, when I got the scripts for season 2.”

“For it to be as good as it is, they are well-prepared to start shooting. My favorite thing about it is how part of the creative process [I am],” Pascal said. “I’m invited to at least observe the experience and contribute whatever will occur to me. So [creator and showrunner] Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, they get me the scripts before we get into shooting, so I know it all.”

Favreau conceived Grogu’s real name early into development on the first season of The Mandalorian, which starts with Din discovering the Yoda-looking foundling previously known only as “the child” or “the asset.”

“I had written it in the script from very early on, and we finally revealed it in the show,” Favreau recently told Good Morning America. “But of course, everybody knows Grogu as ‘Baby Yoda.’ Which, by the way, is fine with all of us. We still call him Baby Yoda too, but he prefers to be called ‘Grogu,’ if you notice in the show. He perks up a lot when you say his name.”

After The Mandalorian launched alongside Disney+ last November, Favreau told USA Today the “Baby Yoda” nickname came about “because there’s no name for the Yoda species. It’s the easiest, shortest, most hashtagable way to identify that character, which is identified in the episode as ‘The Child.’”

Grogu is just one of a few members of this species seen so far in the Star Wars galaxy, which includes Jedi Grand Master Yoda, Yaddle, and Vandar Tokare. When asked if Grogu might be related to Yoda, Favreau said at the time: “Well, now you’re getting into spoilers. I can’t say. But there are a lot of theories about that.”

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