Disney
If you haven’t watched the latest episode of The Mandalorian yet, I’d suggest you hightail it the hell outta here because there are going to be SPOILERS in the literal next sentence.
On the most recent episode, “Chapter 13: The Jedi”, The Mandalorian took a major step into the world of the Force, as Star Wars fan-favorite Jedi Ahsoka Tano made her live-action debut, and she came armed with more than just lightsabers — she came with knowledge.
WATCH ‘The Mandalorian’ via Disney+
Using the Force, Ahsoka was able to communicate with Baby Yoda, learning not only where he came from and where he’s been, but what his real name is: Grogu. Dave Filoni, the director of the episode and the creative mind behind Star Wars: The Clone Wars spoke to Vanity Fair about the process of conceptualizing and revealing one of the series’ biggest early secrets: the true identity of The Child.
“The name has been around for a while. Jon [Favreau] told me early on in Season 1 what it would be, which made me start to think about how people could learn the name. This gave me the idea that Ahsoka, who is very compassionate, would be able to connect with the child, and that without words they could probably communicate through memories and experiences. Through that connection, she learns the name and then tells Mando and the audience.” [via Vanity Fair]
While there’s certainly an element of hot-takery when it came to the reaction that Star Wars had, there’s certainly no denying that Grogu is phonetically less than ideal: “gro” sounds like the word “gross” and “gu” sounds like “goo”, which is also inherently gross. That said, getting hung up on a name in the Star Wars universe is like bitching over the price of beer at a football game: of course it’s outrageous but that’s to be expected at this point.
If you’re a big enough fan of The Mandalorian that you’ve made it to the bottom of this article, I’d suggest checking out the full piece over at Vanity Fair, which also details the process of bringing Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano to life. Also give the Post-Credit Podcast a listen, as we recap and review every new episode of The Mandalorian as soon as it drops.
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