Real Reason The Mandalorian's Baby Yoda Was Not CGI

The legendary filmmaker lashed out at the "cowards" who wanted to replace The Child.

by Andrew Pollard
Werner Herzog
Flickr user "erinc salor" https://www.flickr.com/photos/espressoroast/ [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

Werner Herzog is often viewed as one of the most brilliant, yet demanding filmmakers in the industry. And now, it appears that Star Wars fans may owe the German director a huge debt of gratitude.

Disney+’s The Mandalorian has recently been winning all sorts of praise from fans and critics, and one of the most beloved components of Jon Favreau’s live-action Star Wars show is The Child, aka Baby Yoda.

According to a new Vanity Fair report, Herzog actually stepped in to shoot down Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni’s idea to replace the practical effects-based Baby Yoda with a CGI version.

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In addition to making movies and documentaries for over 50 years, the 77-year-old Werner Herzog has also dabbled in acting. Upon shooting his role in The Mandalorian, Herzog fell in love with the Baby Yoda creature to the point that he derided Favreau and Miloni as "cowards" at the mere suggestion that they could utilise a CGI version of the infant Jedi Master.

The Mandalorian director Deborah Chow – who is also due to direct Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series – went one further and explained how Werner would talk to the Baby Yoda puppet as if it was a real, living being.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.