'Star Wars' breakout star Baby Yoda's reaction scale exceeded expectations, says Walt Disney CEO
Baby Yoda could rightly be called the breakout star of the year. The tiny tot from the live-action 'Star Wars' series, 'The Mandalorian' has captured the hearts of millions of fans across the world.
The character became a viral sensation making way for a flood of memes and fawning on the web. And according to Comicbook, The Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger says the reaction scale exceeded his expectations by a wide margin.
"Well, look, the scale of the reaction is probably beyond my expectations by a wide margin," Iger told The Hollywood Reporter during the Los Angeles premiere of 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'.
"That said, the moment I laid eyes on the character, I had a strong feeling the character was going to connect with audiences. It's just so cute, so interesting, so compelling, in many respects so familiar and yet so new."
Iger also added he doesn't regret holding off on merchandise to keep its reveal a secret. "We talked about it, and we wanted the reveal of that character — notice I’m not referring to it as 'Baby Yoda' — to be really special," he said.
"And it was worth it." Baby Yoda is of the same species as Yoda, the Jedi Grand Master first introduced in 1980 classic 'The Empire Strikes Back'.
They're just smallish green aliens who are extremely Force-sensitive. So far he has been called 'The Child' or 'the kid' in the series and has managed to have quite an adventure with the Mandalorian, played by Pedro Pascal.
'The Mandalorian' airs its season finale on December 27 on Disney+.
