Yoda became a significant pop culture icon after his debut in 1980’s Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. Despite the mysterious nature of the character, the audience became fascinated with it and he went on to be a significant figure among the fans.
Before the world got obsessed with Baby Yoda after the release of The Mandalorian, the OG Yoda got one of his most fan-favorite action sequences in the Prequel Trilogy. However, despite becoming a favorite, Yoda did not have an electrifying debut as an old Jedi Master in the Original Trilogy.
It is reported that the Star Wars creator George Lucas always regretted how the fans never got a badass Yoda sequence due to the technical limitations in the Original Trilogy. But he made sure to deliver some of the most iconic Yoda sequences when he returned to the director’s chair with improved CGI in the Prequel Trilogy projects.
How did George Lucas give Yoda the spotlight in Star Wars Prequel Trilogy?
Yoda was first seen as a centuries-old Jedi Master in Dagobah, reluctant to take Luke Skywalker as his apprentice. The Star Wars creator George Lucas brought puppeteer and actor Frank Oz to voice the character. Almost 100 people worked to perfectly create the Yoda puppet.
George Lucas has stated in several interviews that he started the Prequel Trilogy after a long hiatus of 16 years as he waited for the CGI to improve to such a scale. Soon after a young CGI-generated Yoda was shown in the first Prequel Movie Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Lucas realized that it was time to give a badass moment to the Jedi Master.
In Star Wars Insider, it was revealed that during the pre-production of Episode II, Lucas made sure to do whatever he could to show Yoda in combat to his fans. Given how much Yoda was revered in the franchise Lucas wanted the CGI department to give their best to show the character in action.
George [Lucas] felt that Star Wars fans had been waiting a long time for this moment, and they wanted to see Yoda in combat, He demanded a performance unlike any that had appeared in the previous episodes.
Even though we got a badass fight between the Green Jedi Master and Count Dooku in 2002’s Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, it was in the Prequel Trilogy finale that George Lucas got what he desired. Revenge of the Sith, released in 2005 gave us one of the most-awaited duels between Yoda and Darth Sidious aka Emperor Palpatine.
While the Prequel Trilogy is still hated among a massive Star Wars fandom, it cannot be denied that Yoda’s lightsaber duels were one of their primary highlights. 22 years after the end of the Original Trilogy, George Lucas successfully delivered an almost perfect CGI-generated Yoda in action.
Star Wars Insider added that Frank Oz’s puppet version also had a massive contribution to the designers who designed Yoda’s combat sequences.
How was Baby Yoda created in The Mandalorian?
It is evident from the stories that George Lucas had to give a lot to bring Yoda into action on-screen. Although fans may expect that the creation of Baby Yoda on-screen in The Mandalorian was a cakewalk, the makers incorporated both old and new techniques to make him perfect.
Unlike the prime Yoda in the Prequels, Baby Yoda, or Grogu was not burdened with executing a full-fledged lightsaber duel. However, the VFX supervisor Richard Bluff of Industrial Light & Magic had stated to The Hollywood Reporter that they took the help of both animatronic and a CG version of Grogu to give us one of the cutest pop culture characters.
We had two versions. One was animatronic and required up to five puppeteers if we had to move the eyes, head and arms. The other was a stuffy that could be held in the background when it was out of focus. Additionally, a fully CG version of the character was created at ILM for the rare occasion that we needed CG for the performance. It had to match the puppet exactly.
Baby Yoda did not take any time to take over the internet and be one of the primary selling points of the show. Star Wars is all set to recreate the Grogu magic once again with their upcoming 2026 film The Mandalorian & Grogu. The project will be their next theatrical release following the critically disappointing Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, released in 2019.
The Mandalorian & Grogu will be released on July 10, 2026, while all the other Star Wars content can be streamed on Disney+.
