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As Disney’s first live-action Star Wars series, a lot of eyes were on The Mandalorian to make it perfect. The show took inspiration from a number of existing Star Wars movies and television shows. In fact, Jon Favreau shared, one scene from The Mandalorian was inspired, in part, from an iconic character in film — E.T.

A general view of atmosphere at the premiere of Lucasfilm's first-ever, live-action series, 'The Mandalorian'
A general view of atmosphere at the premiere of Lucasfilm’s first-ever, live-action series, ‘The Mandalorian’ | Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

‘Baby Yoda’ is one of the iconic characters from Disney+’s ‘The Mandalorian’

With the premiere of Disney’s streaming platform came an all-new Star Wars series, featuring a mysterious bounty hunter living after the fall of the Empire. The Mandalorian season 1 was directed and written by The Lion King and The Jungle Book’s Jon Favreau, although it features darker themes recently missing the Star Wars universe, according to some fans. 

It isn’t until the end of the first episode that fans meet the adorable green “Child” causing all the fuss. Although he’s never named, fans call this character “Baby Yoda,” as he looks somewhat similar to Master Yoda, the older character from the Skywalker Saga.

What was the inspiration behind ‘the Child?’

Of course, this character looks similar to Master Yoda, one of the Jedis seen throughout the Star Wars universe. How he interacts with the Mandalorian, though, is pretty unique. One scene even drew inspiration from art and iconic moments in film.

During one interview with Deadline, director/writer Jon Favreau credited director/executive producer Dave Filoni with how this adorable character was originally introduced to the Star Wars series.

“Dave had done a sketch of, kind of a Michelangelo/E.T. moment, and that was a source of inspiration,” Favreau said about the Child’s first scene, drawing parallels to Michelangelo’s “The Creation of Adam” and Steven Spielberg’s alien. “Then, Doug Chiang and the whole art department started generating drawings of it, and the Legacy [Effects] people built it.”

“To have a way to create a freshness, while still being respectful of what came before, I think is one of the challenges of storytellers in this moment, because we’re inundated with so much content,” he continued. “Now, everything’s at the touch of a finger, so everybody has a tremendous cultural context… You know, everybody’s checking your work.”

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Fans hope to see more of Baby Yoda in the season 2 of this original series

Thankfully, the Mandalorian and the Child will embark on more adventures together, with the second season of this Disney+ original and exclusive series. Not much is known about the contents of this upcoming season. 

According to Digital Spy, the series already wrapped filming during March 2020. That means fans could potentially get new episodes during Octber 2020, as scheduled. More information regarding season 2 of The Mandalorian will presumably be announced in the coming weeks. 

Until then, already released episodes are available for binge-watching on Disney’s streaming platform, Disney+. To learn more about Disney+ and to subscribe, visit their website. 

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