‘The Mandalorian’ Star Pedro Pascal Isn’t Supposed to Say ‘Baby Yoda’: ‘I’m Just Following the Rules’
Pedro Pascal’s ascent to becoming America’s favorite TV dad started with The Mandalorian. Despite his pedigree as an actor, everyone understands that the star of the show is “The Child” aka Grogu. Social media quickly named him Baby Yoda, but Pascal recently revealed that people who work on the show are instructed to avoid using the nickname at any cost. Unfortunately for him, he only did so after slipping up and using the forbidden moniker during a high-profile interview.
Baby Yoda is the star of ‘The Mandalorian’
The Mandalorian’s pre-release hype mostly came down to its status as the first live-action TV show in the Star Wars universe. Plot details were kept under wraps until the show debuted on Disney+ in 2019. All we knew was that The Mandalorian was influenced by old-school Westerns and that Pascal would be wearing some really cool armor. But by the time the pilot episode ended, it was clear who was the standout character.
He is referred to as “The Child” for most of The Mandalorian. However, to the outside world, his name is Baby Yoda, and he is the cutest thing in the galaxy. His fate is the catalyst of the show’s story. The Mandalorian is hired to track down “The Child” by the last vestiges of the Galactic Empire. However, instead of turning him in, the two develop a father-son relationship and protect each other from Imperial forces close in on them.
Near the end of the second season, we learn that the child’s name is Grogu. It was also revealed that Grogu is 50 years old and was raised at the Jedi Temple during the Clone Wars.
Pascal made the grave error of using Grogu’s nickname
Pascal talked about his time shooting The Mandalorian during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
Production of The Mandalorian is unique because of its use of The Volume, a massive sound stage that uses a 360-degree semicircular LED video wall to provide digital backgrounds. However, Grogu is predominantly portrayed using a mechanical puppet so that the actors can play off a physical version of him at all times.
Pascal begins to explain all of this, but he accidentally uses a phrase that Disney executives won’t like.
“Yes, Baby Yoda is there. There are two different versions – I can’t believe I said Baby Yoda,” he says in a startled whisper. That’s the first time”. The gravity of Pascal’s words dawns on him and he briefly considers fleeing the scene. “I gotta go,” he jokes before sitting back down.
Norton playfully attempts to get Pascal to say Baby Yoda again, but the actor’s media training kicks back in. “Just following the rules,” he says to big laughs before going on to actually answer the question.
Season three of ‘The Mandalorian’ has finally begun after a long wait
Nearly three years after the conclusion of season two, The Mandalorian returned with new episodes In March 2023, with Din and Grogu reunited after the events of The Book of Boba Fett.
The first two episodes of season three focus on Din’s desire to become a Mandalorian again after breaking the Creed when he took his helmet off.
Grogu’s storyline has taken a back seat so far. However, However, that’s unlikely to be the case for long. New episodes of The Mandalorian go up on Disney+ every Wednesday.
