The Gallery has finally gotten to the Baby.
After four episodes with barely a peep about the central character of the show, the latest episode of Disney+’s behind-the-scenes documentary series Disney Gallery: Star Wars: The Mandalorian spends almost 10 minutes discussing Baby Yoda. And it’s glorious. You can watch it on Disney+ right now at this link.
From about the seven through the 17-minute mark, executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni talk at length about the character they simply called “Baby.” Directors like Taika Waititi and Deborah Chow tell stories about working with it, as do the actors, and the technical geniuses that help bring it to life give us insight into the baby’s movements and personality.
Favreau reveals the character’s earliest origin was a line in his script that read “It’s a baby. The same race as Yoda. And it’s smiling up at them.” From there he talks about the design and goes through several different iterations of the character — some cuter, some…hmm — before landing on what made it to the screen. The show then details the assembly of the practical puppet by a company called Legacy and eventually the numerous different puppeteers who each specialise on a single aspect of the movement, be it the ears, the eyes, etc. It’s all so fascinating.
The best bits, though, are the moments like the one at about 11:50. It’s of Filoni becoming almost speechless at how perfect that Baby is. Other people, like Pedro Pascal and Gina Carano, have similar moments too. It’s basically the moment they realise this character, the one fans will affectionately dub “Baby Yoda,” is about to be a megastar.
There’s much more in the segment too and we urge you to check it out, along with the rest of the excellent episode. There are segments on Kuiil, IG-11, the Razorcrest, and more. But those nine minutes about Baby Yoda will make your day.
You can watch the full episode, called “Practical,” which includes the Baby Yoda segment, on Disney+. The direct link is here.