Does someone secretly want Baby Yoda dead in The Mandalorian? Baby Yoda was the breakout star of The Mandalorian, kept secret until the season 1 premiere aired on Disney+ in the United States. The entire world immediately fell in love with him — he even won the titular Mandalorian over, too.

Baby Yoda is apparently 50 years old, which means it was born a decade before the events of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. It's been secreted away for decades, with Imperial remnants hiring waves of bounty hunters to acquire it. The Mandalorian was given a simple commission; these last Imperials would prefer to have Baby Yoda alive, but proof of death was a satisfactory alternative. He was able to accomplish his task, albeit ably assisted by the unexpected arrival of an IG-11.

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It's easy to miss, but the IG-11 — a renegade assassin droid turned bounty hunter — actually seems to have had a different task to the Mandalorian. He had the same kind of fob guiding him, tuned to Baby Yoda's bio-signature, but dialogue implies he was on a different assignment. When the Mandalorian and IG-11 see Baby Yoda for the first time, the droid intended to shoot the infant dead. "The commission was quite specific," he explained. "The asset was to be terminated." IG-11's instructions differed to those given to the Mandalorian, in that he was definitely supposed to kill the child. The Mandalorian had other ideas, and he gunned IG-11 down instead.

The Mandalorian IG-11

Now, it is possible Moff Gideon didn't really want to take Baby Yoda alive; while the scientists were keen to acquire the Child in order to experiment upon it, the opening episode suggests the Imperial leadership didn't really mind. At the same time, though, it's notable the Imperial base on Nevarro had all the equipment necessary to conduct those experiments after the Mandalorian had handed Baby Yoda over, and that can't have been cheap, especially given this was a time when the Empire had essentially collapsed. The implication is that the Empire did indeed prefer to have Baby Yoda alive, but they imagined "proof of termination" to be a body, meaning they at least had genetic samples if the little being had been killed.

The more likely explanation is that IG-11 hadn't been hired by Moff Gideon at all, but rather by a third party who wants Baby Yoda dead. It's impossible to say who they may be, still less what their motives are; they are yet to step out of the shadows. If this is correct, then The Mandalorian season 2 could well see its titular hero defending Baby Yoda from more than one enemy at a time.

There is, of course, one other possible explanation; that this line of dialogue was a simple slip-up, a mistake made while scripting the episode. While this is feasible, it's hopefully improbable, given showrunner Jon Favreau is known for his attention to detail. The truth will surely be revealed in The Mandalorian season 2.

More: Mandalorian: Ahsoka Means We'll Finally Get Baby Yoda Answers In Season 2