Star Wars: Why George Lucas Stopped Yoda's Species From Being Revealed
Star Wars' best secret is Yoda's species, with George Lucas making sure to keep the details of the species' origin and name from being revealed.
George Lucas refuses to let Star Wars reveal the origin and name of Yoda’s species – here’s why. With over 45 years of exploring the franchise from movies to TV shows to books, there isn’t much room left for mystery in Star Wars' universe. However, with as many liberties as Star Wars takes in expanding knowledge of past characters, events, and locations, George Lucas has one specific unrevealed detail that future projects can’t touch.
Even though Yoda has become one of the most famous pop culture icons since his debut in 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars has yet to reveal the background of the character before the prequel era or the details of his species. The mystery of Yoda’s species name and origin also became an issue when The Mandalorian introduced one of the most popular characters in the franchise’s modern era, Grogu. Since Grogu’s name wasn’t revealed until The Mandalorian season 2, his official title in the series was “The Child” for season 1, with the young force-sensitive character being colloquially nicknamed “Baby Yoda.”
The Mandalorian’s inclusion of Baby Yoda revived the conversation about Yoda’s rare species, with very few details being added to the characters’ backgrounds. Since Grogu and Yoda likely would have known one another—with Master Yoda frequently being involved with training the Jedi younglings and Grogu having been a youngling at the time of Order 66—the connections between the two and their origin have only become more curious. However, George Lucas will never allow Star Wars to reveal the origins of the characters or their species’ real name, thus forever leaving two of the franchise’s most beloved characters a mystery.
Since Master Yoda’s Dagobah introduction in 1980, very little about his species has been revealed in canon. As far as Star Wars has revealed, Yoda’s species is green, ages at a much slower rate than humans with a much longer lifespan, is apparently quite Force-sensitive, and are fairly small creatures. Only three characters of Yoda’s species have been introduced in Star Wars’ movies and TV shows: Master Yoda in the original/prequel trilogies, Yaddle of the Jedi Council in the prequels, and Jedi youngling Grogu in The Mandalorian. All three characters share a fairly similar appearance, with Yaddle being the only female character in Yoda’s species seen so far. Since every character in Yoda’s species has also been connected to the Jedi as a Force-sensitive being, it’s curious as to what their origin is, how many of them there are, what planet they hail from, and why they seem to have such high midi-chlorian counts.
Although Yoda’s species has now been featured in every sector of Star Wars’ franchise, George Lucas is adamant about keeping its name and origin a secret. Lucas explained that when he first created Yoda after deciding to kill off Obi-Wan Kenobi, he had never figured out where the Jedi Master came from or even if his species has a name. Rather than creating a backstory, Lucas decided to keep Yoda as a “mystery” and “magical character,” leaving him a major secret and subversive figure in order to maintain a level of mystique in the Star Wars lore. As such, it’s not that Lucas knows what Yoda’s species is and refuses to tell audiences, he simply wants to leave this mysterious, powerful, odd character exactly what he is—an enigma. Any further details about the species from Yaddle and The Mandalorian's Grogu would thus break down this intrigue into Yoda, so it remains Lucas’ rule that the species’ true nature is never allowed to be revealed.
Star Wars regularly feels the need to answer every detail of every character or situation it presents, with the expansive universe feeling much smaller once everything is known. Yoda, however, has been a mystery since the beginning, and with the franchise constantly changing, the secret of his species remains a constant, which is much needed in Star Wars’ ever-changing world. In reality, disclosing Yoda and Grogu’s species doesn’t add anything meaningful to the story, which is why it’s much more powerful for Lucas to keep it a secret. Furthermore, keeping Yoda's species a secret is faithful to the character, who left the majority of his actions and advice cryptic.
As long as George Lucas is around and maintains the notion that Jedi Master Yoda must remain a mystery, it doesn’t seem that Star Wars will ever reveal the species. When Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau first introduced Baby Yoda into The Mandalorian, they understood that they would have to tread lightly in order to maintain Lucas’ wishes to keep Yoda’s species a secret. Lucas made sure that they included that Grogu would have already had training by the Jedi, which was an important point continuing the species’ mystery in terms of their Force sensitivity. While Grogu’s past is still one of the most intriguing aspects of The Mandalorian, it appears that as far back as the series will go with the character is his time at the Jedi Temple.
Upon Disney’s takeover of the Star Wars franchise, the expansive universe has become even smaller, with the backgrounds, futures, and previously mysterious experiences of beloved characters now being answered. It was unclear exactly what Luke Skywalker did after Return of the Jedi before beginning his Jedi Temple; it was implied, but still largely mysterious how Obi-Wan Kenobi spent 19 years of his life on Tatooine after Revenge of the Sith; Ahsoka’s mysterious future after Star Wars: The Clone Wars was an intriguing unanswered storyline; and Boba Fett was revealed to have survived the Sarlacc pit 37 years after viewers first saw Han Solo knock him into the mouth of the beast. While Disney’s version of Star Wars has been an incredible avenue to revive interest in the franchise, explore novel stories, and see the universe in a brand new light, it’s also done away with much of the franchise's mystery.
Although George Lucas no longer has the final say on what happens to Star Wars’ universe, his opinion on the one secret he’s always been adamant about keeping should be respected. Since revealing Yoda’s species wouldn’t add to the story in a significant manner, even in the case of Grogu’s true origins, it would be a mistake for Disney to ruin the franchise’s best-kept secret over the past four to five decades. The Force was originally one of the most puzzling aspects of Star Wars, but the mystic energy has slowly been unraveled over the years and has lost much of the power that came from its early intrigue. Since Yoda remains one of Star Wars’ most popular characters as well as arguably its most influential figure, Disney needs to repeat such circumstances with Grogu's ambiguity rather than use the new, beloved character to undermine the powerful Jedi Master’s 40-year mystique.