Before it came out, Star Wars fans were awaiting the release of The Mandalorian with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.
After the fallout from Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi and disturbing rumors surrounding the upcoming The Rise of Skywalkers, emotionally exhausted fans were keeping their fingers crossed about The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars TV show.
Fortunately, Jon Favreau delivered big time and fans were able to heave a sigh of relief (for now) that the show sticks true to the essence of what the Star Wars universe is. But funnily enough, the show’s biggest attraction is not necessarily the Mandalorian himself (played by Pedro Pascal) but by Baby Yoda.
Okay, he’s not really Yoda, although speculations have been flying about whether or not it’s a clone.
But the fact of the matter is, practically nothing is known about Yoda’s species and that’s actually deliberate. Even when he was making the original trilogy, George Lucas wanted to keep Yoda’s species and the home planet a mystery.
Lucas even went so far as to terminate deals with companies that tried to come out with merchandise suggesting details about Yoda’s species, home planet, or even culture.
So for lack of a better term, the cute creature is Baby Yoda. And the Internet is absolutely going wild over him. And the latest episode showing Baby Yoda sipping some soup has provided prime fodder for the creation of memes.
In fact, social media users have taken to saying that Baby Yoda would probably supplant Kermit sipping tea.
For those who don’t know, Muppet Kermit is often shown with the line “but that’s none of my business” while sipping tea.
One person tweeted: “Baby Yoda and his soup is the new sipping tea meme. I’ve said it.”
Another even edited Baby Yoda’s image to make it look like he was sipping tea, writing: “This is the new meme to replace Kermit’s tea-sipping meme. Retweet to spread awareness.”
Now that Mandalorian creator Jon Favreau has realized just how popular Baby Yoda is, he gave fans what they’ve always wanted in the form of behind the scenes footage.
Favreau wrote on his Instagram: “If your Thanksgiving table gets too heated show everyone this video I took on the set of The Mandalorian.”
Coincidentally, Boba Fett was just a minor character that George Lucas never gave much thought to but became hugely popular. So it’s perhaps fitting that a show about Boba Fett’s race would also feature another character that’s almost as popular as the show’s protagonist.
Replaced!