The Backstory Behind Baby Yoda’s Species

With the surging popularity of “Baby Yoda” (previously) from the Disney+ series The Mandalorian, a narrater from Looper figures out the backstory regarding the unknown species that includes Yoda, Yaddle (Star Wars: The Phantom Menace) and Baby Yoda.

The aforementioned characters represent the three times the species has been represented in Star Wars film and television shows.

What’s up with this species of pint-sized, pointy-eared aliens? What makes them so special, and what have we learned about them over the years? …While there have been several of Yoda’s species, including those from the Extended Universe and the Knights of the Old Republic video game, at this point in time, there are only three in the official Star Wars canon: Yoda, Yaddle, and this new “Child” character colloquially known to fans as “Baby Yoda.”

During a 2012 viewer-question interview with Moviefone, creator George Lucas explained that he didn’t want Yoda to have any kind of backstory whatsoever.

I created Yoda who was two feet tall large with green ears, but to be really honest with you, I never really figured out where he came from, what his species is called. It doesn’t even have a name and maybe it’s somewhere but I don’t know what it is. So he’s a mystery character. He’s a magical character. He has no background, he comes and he goes. He’s the subversive secret mysterious stranger that enters the film and then exits.