Star Wars has its Yoda replacement, but there are a couple of major problems with fully filling the void left by the diminutive Jedi Grandmaster. After his introduction in The Empire Strikes Back, there were a lot of questions about Yoda – ones that George Lucas largely refused to answer. Details on his species were one of the things the old Expanded Universe couldn’t go into, and even after the prequels introduced another of his kind in Yaddle, we still don’t really know much at all about them.
That has continued with the next generation, Grogu. Ever since his introduction, he has been widely referred to as “Baby Yoda,” but The Mandalorian and Grogu takes this further, and a little more literally, than before. The movie sees the child significantly develop: he gets wiser, gains a little independence, and shows that he is extremely powerful in the Force, even more so than he was in the TV show.
As if that weren’t enough, it also draws even more visual parallels between them, with Grogu walking with a stick just like Yoda before him. He’s closer to Yoda than ever, but that presents some challenges.
The key question with Grogu’s Star Wars future is: do we want to see Baby Yoda… stop being a baby? It’s not one I envy Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni potentially having to answer at some point. The intrinsic appeal of Grogu is very much how cute he is. Every single scene with him in The Mandalorian and Grogu is a delight, and an incredible feat of animatronics and puppetry. But what’s perhaps most impressive is how long it’s been sustained: seven years is a long time to go without that effect wearing off, but if anything, he’s more adorable than ever.
Ageing him up, or even just finally having speak, would fundamentally alter the character, both in terms of his dynamic with Din Djarin and also how he’s perceived by the audience. How would you even go about casting that voice role, given the pressure and expectation on getting it exactly right if you’re eventually going to do it? That would be hard; getting the look right would be equally so.
Likewise, while the movie shows more depth to Grogu – his bravery, resourcefulness, and how much he loves and cares for Mando show he is far more than just being cute – it’s unclear how much that would work if, say, we’re looking at a visibly older, bigger puppet. Are audiences going to respond to Teen Yoda in the same way? Do people want to see him just become another Yoda?
Doing that would be a monumental risk, but not doing it also means there are limitations to the character. He cannot be taken too far into the future if they’re to keep him as a child; even accounting for how little we know about the species, and that his development was halted, at some point they’d presumably have to start making more significant changes. Of course, The Mandalorian‘s timeline is already fuzzy, so it can probably get away with telling more adventures of Grogu and his father for a while yet before questions are really asked.
With that, there’s also a reasonable question about how much Grogu’s Force powers will develop. It’s clear he is innately strong with the Force, and we know he has an extremely high midi-chlorian count (something that may or may not be inherent to his species). Could he become as powerful as Yoda, and what will he do with those powers?
He has already chose the Mandalorian over the Jedi once, but he continues to wield the Force and it’s not unthinkable that, if he were to grow older, he might revisit the Jedi path in some way, perhaps becoming the second Mandalorian Jedi. But that probably won’t happen when he’s a baby, even if he is 50.
Yoda and Grogu’s species are quite interesting in Star Wars, because the intrigue and strength lies in the mystery. One of the best things about The Mandalorian was learning more about Mandalorian history, culture, and rules. One of the best things about the prequels, and things like the High Republic era, is learning more about the Jedi Order. They’re different to a specific species, of course, but the principle is similar: Star Wars has always thrived on its lore, with knowledge the greatest power in the galaxy, and Yoda’s species is the rare exception where it’s almost entirely a void.
That’s another challenge in taking Grogu forward, if it were to progress through the decades rather than just a few years. We know that Yoda was a Jedi Master by age 100, twice the age of Grogu currently. But Grogu is still very much a child; part of that is his stunted development after Order 66, but do their species age and mature rapidly at a certain point? Was Yoda being 900 the norm for his species, or did he live an extraordinarily long life because of his connection to the Force? Where do they come from, and how many are there? Are they all powerful in the Force? Hell, what’s their name (and is it Jedi)?
Speaking with ComicBook, Filoni addressed whether we’d see a grown-up Grogu, saying: “It’s always a good question. I mean, kids grow up, right? It’s always an interesting question.
“We’re always balancing between giving away too much of the mystery or saying too many things because one of the reasons people like characters like Yoda and Grogu is there’s an element of mystery to them. And so, I think that factors in, too. But, you know, at one point there was no Grogu. There was no young version of a Yoda character. So, now we have that and I think we’re always kind of judging and looking at things long term for what does the story need and what does the character need, if it makes sense.”
Some questions would not necessarily be answered by moving Grogu into adulthood, but it would give us a greater understanding, while also no doubt raising more questions. Given Lucas’ reticence to expounding upon Yoda’s species, I can’t imagine Lucasfilm sanctioning it now, especially under his protégé Filoni, but it means part of Grogu, even as he grows, will always be unknowable.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is now playing in theaters.
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