Why Jon Favreau Used A Puppet To Show Baby Yoda In 'The Mandalorian'

“The Mandalorian” gave a lot of stunning moments during the first season and instantly became a huge hit among the viewers. Baby Yoda grabbed all the eyeballs and people started to wonder what kind of VFX must have gone into making such an amazing character. Interestingly, Jon Favreau ditched the idea of using special effects on Baby Yoda and instead used a “puppet” to film the scenes.

While speaking in an interview with Screen Rant, Goran Backman, who worked with Favreau on “The Mandalorian,” revealed that the creator of the show wanted to show Baby Yoda as a puppet because he loved the way the old “Star Wars” movies were shot with “practical” creatures.

Backman also noted that the team did not do much work on the child and it was practical for the vast majority of the shots.

“I get that question a lot, but no, we largely did not. Baby Yoda was practical for the vast majority of the shots. Favreau grew up with ‘Star Wars’ and has a love for the way they did the old movies: the creatures were practical and stop-motion animated. There is a lot of charm you get from using puppets,” Screen Rant quoted Backman, as saying.

The VFX specialist also shared that there were few instances when the team used a CGI version of the character because the puppet was not able to give a shot like the makers wanted it to.

“There are a few instances where ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) used a CG Baby Yoda, where they just couldn’t get the puppet to perform the way a shot asked for. We helped up with some paint out for wires and other parts that drove the puppet, but that was the extent of it,” Backman said during the interview.

The Child, who was dubbed Baby Yoda by fans, was adopted by the show's main protagonist, Din Djarin or Mando (Pedro Pascal). The initial goal was to track and capture the Child for a remnant of the fallen Galactic Empire.

The character will play a major role in the upcoming season and also made its way into the logo for season two. The logo features the duo of the bounty hunter and everyone’s favorite Baby Yoda standing against a serene, blue skyline.

“The Mandalorian” Season 2 will be streaming live on Oct. 30.