Upon Disney+’s debut in November 2019, one topic dominated conversations: Baby Yoda, officially known as The Child. Despite primarily serving as a cute MacGuffin, Baby Yoda became ubiquitous, appearing on merchandise, fan art, and bizarre social media posts featuring “families” of Grogu figurines.
Today, Baby Yoda—now called Grogu—is preparing for his big-screen debut in The Mandalorian & Grogu. However, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy has indicated that a highly anticipated milestone—Grogu speaking for the first time—will not occur in this film. Yet might this be a deliberate deception?
Though Grogu appears infantile, he is actually older than Din Djarin, having been born in the same year as Anakin Skywalker. His developmental delay stems from his species’ extraordinary longevity—Yoda died at 900, making 50 seem insignificant. Nevertheless, Grogu has shown remarkable growth since his introduction, evolving from a tiny creature in a floating pod to a partially trained Force wielder capable of agile movement.
The film’s trailer introduced a new dimension: Grogu now constantly babbles like a young child. Could this signal his first spoken words in the movie? Kathleen Kennedy says no. In an interview with Variety at the Golden Reel Awards, Kennedy stated Grogu is “another perfect example of a character that has to emote and you have to feel connected to, and he never speaks a word,” affirming this will remain unchanged in the upcoming release.
For those curious, Grogu’s speech—if it emerges—won’t mirror Yoda’s distinctive syntax. Tales of the Jedi established that Yaddle spoke standard Basic, indicating Yoda’s speech pattern was a personal trait rather than a species-wide characteristic. Having spent nearly a decade with Din Djarin and presumably decades in the Jedi Temple as a youngling, Grogu would likely adopt the speech patterns of his companions—Din Djarin, Luke Skywalker, or his former instructor Kelleran Beq.
Naturally, this might be intentional misdirection. From a linguistic standpoint, word formation naturally follows babbling, and what theatrical moment would be more impactful than Grogu’s inaugural words? While realistically he might simply call Din “Papa,” imagine a post-credits scene where Grogu gazes at his guardian and declares, “This is the way”—a revelation worth protecting at all costs.