Yoda Will Appear In 'Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge', With Frank Oz Reprising His Role
Even though Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge will allow us to experience our own story inside the Star Wars universe in a remote outpost on the edge of the galaxy, we will be encountering a few of the lead characters from the films. We know that the Rise of the Resistance dark ride will feature Poe, Finn, Rey, BB-8 and Kylo Ren, but until now we didn't know if this theme park land would feature any of the major characters from the original Star Wars trilogy. At Star Wars Celebration, we got our first confirmation of an original trilogy character having a presence in this world.
Portfolio Creative Executive for Walt Disney Imagineering Scott Trowbridge teased during the presentation that "there are other great people we have in this too!"
"Because not every character we hear is a character that we can see. Sometimes those voices come to us from [the force.]"
"But what does that even mean? Imagineering executive creative Chris Beatty interjected that:
"The force is a mysterious thing and sometimes maybe Jedis from the past can visit us and be part of your experience. Maybe... a small green Jedi. Yoda."
Right now it's unclear if we will encounter Yoda as a force ghost somewhere within the land, or if we will just hear his voice in our heads as Luke Skywalker did. But Beatty did confirm that they are working with Frank Oz to reprise his iconic role as Jedi master Yoda in Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: "It's incredible to work with the talent that we were able to bring together for Galaxy's Edge."
I'm really hoping this is more than just a voice but an actual force ghost holographic vision of the Jedi leader. I wish we could get a full-blown animatronic of Yoda but it doesn't sound like that is in the cards.
Who Else Could Appear From The Original Trilogy?
And it's still unclear if Luke Skywalker, General Leia or Han Solo will have any presence in this land. Of course, the world seems to be set somewhere between the events of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, so sadly Han is no longer with us and his presence will probably be felt within the Falcon itself.
Luke Skywalker is also dead, but I'm assuming he could potentially appear to us as a force ghost.
General Leia is still leading the Resistance, but actress Carrie Fisher is no longer with us so I'm not sure they could repurpose any unused footage of her in the land, perhaps on a Resistance briefing display?
Lando Calrissian, who appears in the upcoming final installment, theoretically could appear somehow, but I'm guessing he doesn't get involved in the Resistance until the events of the Rise of Skywalker so it would not make much sense.
We've heard rumblings that you might see Chewbacca actually working underneath the Millenium Falcon outside of the Smuggler's Run attraction, but that's not confirmed.
We still don't now if C-3PO or r2-D2 will appear in Batuu, but it seems easy enough, so I think it's safe to assume we will see them somewhere.