Jon Favreau Provides Bogus Answer For Why Baby Yoda Reunited With The Mandalorian In ‘The Book Of Boba Fett’

John F. Trent |

Feb 16, 2023

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 13: Jon Favreau attends the ceremony honoring Jon Favreau with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California on February 13, 2023. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

The Mandalorian Executive Producer and creator Jon Favreau provided one of the most bogus answers as to why he and Lucasfilm chose to reunite Baby Yoda with Din Djarin in The Book of Boba Fett after he previously had Luke Skywalker take him at the end of The Mandalorian Season 2.

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 13: Jon Favreau attends the ceremony honoring Jon Favreau with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood, California on February 13, 2023. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney)

Favreau spoke with Empire about the upcoming third season and was asked about why he chose to bring the two characters back together after separating them.

He explained, “We couldn’t just hit a hard reset. It’s going to be interesting to see how this unfolds for people who may not have seen The Book Of Boba Fett. But I think The Book Of Boba Fett offered time to pass.”

“You saw what Mando was like without Baby Yoda and we saw what Grogu was like without the Mandalorian and neither of them was doing too good. So them coming back together was a really good plot point that allows us to jump back into Season 3 while maintaining the central relationship,” he elaborated.

This answer is completely bogus given Din Djarin and Grogu (Baby Yoda) are fictional characters and whether or not they work together or apart is on the writers and creators of those fictional characters.

To claim that the characters did not work apart is an admittance that you failed in your job as a writer and creator to make them work.

Nevertheless, Favreau went on to say, “Just because this kid has the potential and had training, does he belong away from the Mandalorian? I saw it more like Paper Moon, where the whole thing is about delivering the kid to the blood relative, only to realize that, whether genetically through her father or just through bonding, Tatum O’Neal has to end up with Ryan O’Neal. That ending feels really good to me.”

“And this little kid [Grogu] is given a decision to choose. And the kid chooses the emotional relationship and wants to be with the Mandalorian, and passing up Yoda’s lightsaber. Part of you wants to see him develop in that way, and part the other,” he added.

The issue with this explanation is that the story in The Mandalorian up to the Season 2 ending made it clear that the two characters were not actually supposed to end up with each other. In fact, the show makes it abundantly clear that the Mandalorian is tasked to deliver Grogu to a Jedi by the Armorer.

The whole overarching plot of Season 2 is the Mandalorian seeking out a Jedi to deliver Grogu too. Trying to claim the two are destined to be together contradicts the show’s actual plot.

On top of contradicting the plot, it also now downplays the entire emotional scene of him handing over Grogu to Luke Skywalker to train as a Jedi.

That moment really has no meaning anymore as it was simply erased in an extremely poorly written two-episode arc that sees Grogu return to the Mandalorian after being given an ultimatum by Luke Skywalker.

Favreau would also tell Empire, “You have this interesting character who has Jedi training to some extent, Force abilities, but also is joining the Mandalorian culture, which we’ve established is something that you can opt into. It demands a lot, it offers a lot.”

“Historically, Mandalorians developed all of those tools and armor and weapons to be able to counteract the Force abilities of Jedi. So as a storyteller this offers tremendous opportunity,” he added.

Is he really joining the Mandalorian culture? Again, this contradicts what Favreau has actually written in the show. Bo-Katan makes it clear that Din Djarin is part of a fringe cult and not actually part of mainstream Mandalorian culture.

Even if you accept that Favreau is simply talking about the cult, the show does not make it clear you can opt into it. It’s more of a recruiting procedure where they bring in young children and teach them their Way, whatever it is as it’s never really explained, and the Mandalorian eschews anything he says he actually believes the minute it becomes a burden for him.

Regardless, as noted above, he fulfilled his duty to the Way by reuniting Grogu with Luke Skywalker. Thus he is no longer bound to Grogu and that gets back to the previous point that he was never destined to be with Grogu as noted in the Season 1 finale, where he does not want to be burdened with Grogu as a charge.

There might be another reason as to why Grogu is reunited with the Mandalorian and it has to do with a recent rumor that Lucasfilm wants to have Baby Yoda team up with Rey for a new theatrical film.

That rumor came courtesy of scooper WDW Pro, who said in recent YouTube video, “The idea is that somehow Grogu is going to unite with Rey in the next movie if they can work out all the contracts, if they can get Daisy Ridley back that Grogu will be apart of it along with R2, Chewie, and a brand new character.”

Speaking exclusively with Bounding Into Comics, WDW Pro also noted that Grogu had to be removed from under Luke’s care because Lucasfilm wants to have him train under Rey despite the significant time gap between The Mandalorian and Disney’s Sequel trilogy.

WDW Pro detailed, “What I strongly believed happened, when they had everything mapped out for the second season of The Mandalorian, they indeed wanted to separate these characters. …But this was part of the broader plans that they had, the road map. And that road map involved Gina Carano having her own show, Rangers of the New Republic, and there were all these interconnected series.”

“When what happened to her occurred, done in such terrible taste, they also lost quite a few individuals who were interested in working with them in future series. I think that caused them to have to jettison many of their plans,” he relayed.

“And as a result of having to jettison their plans, they didn’t have a way, they didn’t have a show to be able to now deal with these characters being separated,” he explained. “They didn’t have a vehicle to have Luke and Grogu spend time together and show the Mandalorian by himself on adventures.”

WDW Pro later noted, “I think they are trying to go back to get to this Padawan Baby Yoda, but the forces that be want to do that with Rey. And so I think that’s how all of this has been navigated is that they’ve tried to resolve the mess they made with the Gina Carano situation.”

What do you make of Jon Favreau’s explanation for reuniting Baby Yoda and Din Djarin so soon after separating them in The Mandalorian Season 2 finale?

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