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Taika Waititi would take breaks while shooting The Mandolorian to cuddle with Baby Yoda: ‘Would be pretty heartless not to’
Taika Waititi found Baby Yoda just as irresistibly adorable as the rest of us on The Mandalorian. He would cuddle with the doll during shoots.
Filmmaker and actor Taika Waititi had the best time working on The Mandalorian. Not only did he get to be a part of the superhit Star Wars universe, he also got to cuddle ‘Baby Yoda’ on the sets, a dream for many.
Taika, who directed the final episode of the series created by Jon Favreau, would take regular breaks during shoots, only to cuddle with the Baby Yoda doll--known as The Child on the show-- used on the show. He spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about why he thought it was necessary. “It would be pretty heartless not to.”
The Child belongs to the same alien species as Yoda from the original Star Wars movies. While it is about 50 years old, he is still a child considering the long lifespans of his species. Pedro Pascal’s Mandalorian sets out to capture him for a bounty but ends up building a relationship with him and makes it his job to protect him at all costs.
Upon The Child’s introduction, fans were overwhelmed with love for him. They dubbed him Baby Yoda, made memes, shared his cute pictures all over the internet and demanded that Disney brought plushies to the market, so everyone could own their own Baby Yoda.
Taika, was not unaffected by The Child’s cuteness either. “He reminded me so much of my babies when they were 6 months old,” he said. “I couldn’t help it, I had to hold it in the same way,” he added.
Talking about working on the show, Taika said, “I was never overwhelmed, really. There were just so many moments of being really excited. It was pretty freaky, really. I never thought I’d be working with Stormtroopers.”
Jon Favreau has said that the second season of the series will arrive on time. During a virtual panel for the ATX Television Festival, the filmmaker said the team had completed filming for season two before the industrywide shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The second season of the show is expected to debut in October this year.
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