Giancarlo Esposito on Baby Yoda and Joining ‘Star Wars’ Franchise in ‘The Mandalorian’ | Video

“The Mandalorian” may be named after Pedro Pascal’s eponymous bounty hunter, the breakout character from the first few episodes of Disney+’s “Star Wars” TV show is the character known as Baby Yoda. And those on the show love the adorable 50-year old “baby” just as much as the fans. “It’s very exciting to have a Baby Yoda,” Giancarlo Esposito, who made his debut as the mysterious Moff Gideon, told TheWrap. “In the original ‘Star Wars’ series, we fell in love with Yoda. And to have a Baby Yoda, who was born with such brilliant intelligence to really give us the idea that you could have someone very, very young, and so very cute and so very smart and significant to the story, is a fantastic thing.” The inclusion of a Baby Yoda was one of the reasons for the intense secrecy around “The Mandalorian” in the weeks leading up to its launch. It was the one show that Disney+ did not make available for critics ahead of its Nov. 12 premiere. Now we know why. (Before “Star Wars” fans yell at us, we know he’s not exactly a child version of Yoda — the 900-year-old Jedi Master and mentor to Luke Skywalker — but a child of the same, unidentified race as Yoda.) The inclusion of a Baby Yoda was one of the reasons for the intense secrecy around “The Mandalorian” in the weeks leading up to its launch. It was the one show that Disney+ did not make available for critics ahead of its Nov. 12 premiere. Now we know why. (Before “Star Wars” fans yell at us, we know he’s not exactly a child version of Yoda — the 900-year-old Jedi Master and mentor to Luke Skywalker — but a child of the same, unidentified race as Yoda.) Watch the full interview above for more, including whether or not Esposito’s Moff Gideon gets to share screen time with Baby Yoda.