The Creation Of Baby Yoda Was Influenced By ET
Baby Yoda is quite possibly the most memorable contribution to the Star Wars franchise since Disney acquired the brand. The Mandalorian is the show that debuted "The Child," which is what Baby Yoda is officially named. Show creators, Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, spoke to Deadline about the genesis of their hit Disney+ show. They revealed that everyone’s favorite green Jedi baby, was actually inspired by E.T.
Among the collaborators Favreau tapped to help pull of that trick were director/executive producer Dave Filoni and Oscar-winning composer Ludwig Göransson, both of whom joined Favreau on the Disney+ panel.
Long an influential figure in the world of Star Wars, Filoni played a major role in the creation of an instantly iconic, new character—The Child, otherwise known as Baby Yoda. "Dave had done a sketch of kind of a Michelangelo/E.T. moment, and that was a source of inspiration," Favreau shared about the Child’s first scene, drawing parallels to Michelangelo’s "The Creation of Adam" and Steven Spielberg’s famous alien. "Then, Doug Chiang and the whole art department started generating drawings of it, and the Legacy [Effects] people built it."
This isn’t the first time Steven Spielberg and Star Wars have crossed paths. They actually have a long history – which you can learn a little about here.
You can learn more about he making of The Mandalorian by visiting Deadline here.