Kathleen Kennedy, the former head of Disney’s Star Wars division Lucasfilm, has revealed a character detail regarding Baby Yoda from the forthcoming The Mandalorian & Grogu movie.
While Kennedy’s reign at Lucasfilm may be over — she handed over the reigns to president and chief creative officer Dave Filoni, as well as co-president Lynwen Brennan, back in January — the veteran exec is still serving as a producer on the upcoming Star Wars project.
Speaking to Variety, Kennedy has now discussed the film further, and established that Grogu will continue a character trait from the Mandalorian TV series — one that some fans had hoped he would finally move on from.
“On the big screen… he never says a word,” Kennedy said, confirming that while Grogu is fast developing his Force powers, he will remain unable to master English (or, as Star Wars fans would describe it, Basic).
Grogu has remained mostly mute throughout three seasons of the Mandalorian TV series, minus the odd gurgle or babble, so his continued muteness is not a huge surprise here. However, fans had assumed that the 50-year-old baby would at one point speak — and that his first big screen adventure would be the perfect time for this to happen. Alas, this is seemingly not the case.
“Oh that is great Kath! Why don’t you spoil the movie ending too?” wrote BookofDinGrogu on social media, sounding annoyed this information had been spoiled. “I’m furious. She didn’t had [sic] to say any of this,” added another.
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The original Yoda loved to chat, and his odd method of speaking is now one of the most memorable parts of Star Wars. But not all members of his species speak in the same way. Yaddle, the female Jedi of the same species, has been seen and heard chatting away normally (she’s voiced by Bryce Dallas Howard in Tales of the Jedi), so there’s no requirement for Grogu to ultimately speak as Yoda does.
Last week, Filoni described The Mandalorian & Grogu as the first movie in a “completely different era of Star Wars”, following the conclusion of Disney’s divisive sequel trilogy. But the future of the Star Wars movie franchise remains unclear, with only Ryan Gosling’s Star Wars: Starfighter also confirmed (it is set to arrive on May 28, 2027).
Before that, though, The Mandalorian & Grogu will launch this year on May 22. Just don’t expect Grogu to be making any speeches.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social