An artist imagined what teenage Yoda in Star Wars would be like long before the debut of Baby Yoda in The Mandalorian. The Disney+ series may primarily focus on Pedro Pascal's lone-gunslinger, Din Djarin, however, the 50-year-old infant from the same species as the legendary Jedi Master has quickly become a viral sensation partially because of how adorable it looks. Yet, years before it was introduced, an adolescent version of Yoda was already doing the rounds online.
Star Wars has intentionally kept details about Yoda and his species scarce - a mandate from lore creator, George Lucas himself. Prior to the arrival of Baby Yoda, also dubbed The Child by the show, the franchise had only cited two other from the same kind - Jedi Yoda and Yaddle. Despite that, more recent information about the creatures come from The Mandalorian including the fact that they're carnivores. Thanks to the cute infant, there's a renewed interest in the species, especially when it's set to become a bigger subplot for The Mandalorian season 2. However, long before the Disney+ show started to explore the mysterious race, fans were already tinkering on what Yoda would look like when he was much younger.
3D artist Gabriel Belluco's (via CBR) work from 2018 has started garnering attention again as it fits people's current obsession with Baby Yoda and its species in general. The creator shared his take on what a teenage Yoda would look like based on a similar project from Ninja Theory Senior Concept Artist and Character Designer Maco Teixeira. Check out their works below:
The re-emergence of Belluco's creation come on the heels of a different fan-art visualizing what Yoda would look like with human skin. Frankly, the result was quite terrifying, but it's still an interesting sight to see. These are testaments to the renewed interest of the public for Yoda and everything about him and his species. The Mandalorian finale teased that that fans will learn more about them as Din is given the mission to reunite Baby Yoda with its own kind by the Armorer (Emily Swallow), and until then, he'll be its father. It's unclear if concrete answers will be provided in season 2 right away or it'll take a bit of time considering that the show also deals with other narratives. In any case, it's safe to expect that by the time it wraps up, there'll be more information about them.
As for the Jedi Master himself, there's no clear indication that he'll be back at the Star Wars forefront anytime soon. Lucasfilm has yet to confirm their movie slate following Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. The last time fans saw the wise Jedi was as a Force ghost in 2017's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and the Skywalker saga is now finished. However, rumors that the next set of films from Star Wars will be set in the High Republic Era, which is believed to be roughly 400 years before the story of Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and his descendants began. Depending on the exact time frame and narrative, fans may actually see Yoda during his teenage or young adult years.
Source: Gabriel Belluco (via CBR), Maco Teixeira