The MandalorianintroducedStar Warsfans to an infant member of Yoda’s species referred to simply as The Child, whom fans quickly dubbed Baby Yoda. While the creative team on the series managed to keep Baby Yoda’s existence hidden until the first season premiered on Disney+, the secrecy surrounding the character created some confusion for a cast member of season two.
Tasked with reunitingBaby Yoda with his own speciesat the end of the first season, Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin begins the second season searching for other Mandalorians to help him in his mission. The bounty hunter’s journey leads him to a town located on the outer rim of Tatooine called Mos Pelgo, where another Mandalorian is rumored to be operating. Upon arriving at the settlement, Djarin enters the local cantina and meets a Weequay bartender who introduces him to Cobb Vanth, the town marshall who came into the possession ofMandalorian armor.
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The role of the bartender was portrayed by W. Earl Brown, who recounted his experience working onThe Mandalorianin a series of posts on his official Twitter account. As Brown explained, he began working onThe Mandalorianon the same the day series was premiering on Disney+, meaning he knew little about the show aside from the fact that his scene involvedBoba Fett’s armorand that he would be working with Pascal, Timothy Olyphant (with whom he’d previously worked onDeadwood), and a third actor playing “The Child.”
When it came time to begin filming the cantina scene, Brown recalled being amused by the Baby Yoda figure brought in by the prop department while still wondering why he hadn’t met the actor portraying “The Child” yet. Of course, Brown began to realize that the child was actually Baby Yoda once Pascal entered the scene with the puppet in tow, adding that there were multiple puppets and an EFX globe on hand to bring the infant to life in post.
Brown returned home after work asking his wife ifshe knew about Baby Yoda. As it turns out, Brown’s wife works in The Walt Disney Company’s streaming division as a communications executive. Despite being aware of the inner-workings at Disney, she didn’t say a word about Baby Yoda to Brown even while listening to him excitedly discussStar Warsfor days after landing his role inThe Mandalorian. Brown also noted that it was difficult keeping his story a secret for a year, adding that he only told a few close friends and family about his experience after swearing them to secrecy. The entire Twitter thread is worth reading to experience the utter delight Brown experienced at first learning he’d be part ofStar Wars, then that he’d be on Tatooine, and then, finally, meeting The Child.
Brown isn’t the only actor to share his experience working onThe Mandaloriannow that the second season has premiered. Deaf actor Troy Kotsur recently discussed how hedeveloped the new sign languageused by Din Djarin and the Tusken Raiders to communicate with each other.
Of course, there is still plenty of secrecy surrounding the second season ofThe Mandalorian, particularly when it comes to Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon. On the villain’s primary goal in the second season, Esposito merely stated that Gideon willcontinue his pursuit of Baby Yoda.
