Baby Yoda is, arguably, the reason that the current crop of Star Wars series have been so successful. The Mandalorian character is adorable, hilarious and an immediately unforgettable addition to the Star Wars cast.
And yet, he’s still impressing Star Wars fans every week. He split from adoptive daddy Din Djarin at the end of The Mandalorian season 2, only to reappear alongside Luke Skywalker for Jedi training in The Book of Boba Fett.
In order to film those training scenes, the Star Wars geniuses had to innovate yet again. John Rosengrant, founder of Legacy Effects, explained in the latest issue of Empire Magazine that a brand new puppet came about as a result of Grogu needing to do more in specific Star Wars scenes, including his acrobatic Jedi training.
He said: “In season 2 [of The Mandalorian], Grogu starts doing more. In The Book of Boba Fett, it went crazy – he starts doing lots of things. On season 2, it was helpful to have a self-contained [puppet], which no longer had cables on it. It became known as the ‘hands-free’.
“We ended up building one [on The Book of Boba Fett] that was floppy – almost a rag-doll with an attachment at its mid-centre of gravity, so that we could flip it around.”
There’s something joyous about that. Disney had to spend a great deal of money so that some of the most talented puppet makers in the world could make a Star Wars alien do somersaults. That’s what science fiction movies are all about.
It’s a great time to be a Star Wars fan right now, with The Mandalorian season 3 in full swing – as you can see in our The Mandalorian season 3 episode 3 recap. We’ve also got guides answering all of your burning Mandalorian questions, including about Moff Gideon, the Mythosaur, the Mines of Mandalore, and how many episodes of The Mandalorian season 3 will there be.