Bob Iger Knows The Child's Real Name In 'The Mandalorian', But Once Called Him Baby Yoda Like Us
The Mandalorian is a big hit for Disney and Lucasfilm, so much that the second season was officially announced to arrive in the fall of 2020 just as the first season came to an end this past week. While fans are loving the titular character of the series, there's one clear breakout from the show: Baby Yoda. However, since character isn't actually Yoda as a baby, Disney is doing everything they can to make sure fans know that this creature should be called The Child or The Asset. But even Disney CEO Bob Iger used to refer to the character as Baby Yoda, only to be corrected by series creator Jon Favreau. But Iger also knows something that fans are desperate to find out.
In an interview with The Star Wars Show, Disney CEO Bob Iger recalled what happened when he made the mistake of referring to the floppy-earned Force user as Baby Yoda, and Jon Favreau immediately corrected him:
"I got chastised. In my early e-mails to Jon Favreau, I referenced in my e-mails Baby Yoda. It just seemed easy. And I got my wrist slapped by Jon Favreau a few times. 'It's not Baby Yoda!' Okay, okay!"
That's not going to stop us from calling him Baby Yoda though. Funnily enough, Bob Iger revealed that he actually knows Baby Yoda's real name, but he didn't provide any hints as to what that might be. But he joked that's why he now has extra security, so that no one can give him a truth serum to pull the information out of him.
The best theory out there is that the species of Baby Yoda is called The Whills, referencing the original title for Star Wars, which was The Journal of The Whills. In Star Wars canon, the Ancient Order of the Whills is a higher order of beings deeply connected with the Force, and that could very well be the species Baby Yoda hails from. But even beyond that, Iger seems to indicate that he knows what the name of Baby Yoda is specifically, not just his species.
Fans are obsessed with Baby Yoda, and they want to know anything and everything about him. Iger even said the popularity of the character has exceeded his own expectations "by a wide margin." That's why any bit of merchandise featuring the character has fans scrambling to click the pre-order button. But since all the official merchandise also refers to the character as The Child or The Asset, we're likely not going to learn any more about him until the second season arrives in fall 2020.