Bryce Dallas Howard’s children inspired the actress/filmmaker to ensure The Mandalorian character Baby Yoda was central to the plot of the show.
The 39-year-old revealed during the virtual ATX Television Festival on Friday (June 5, 2020) that her kids, Theodore and Beatrice, were always asking about Baby Yoda during the filming of the first season of the Star Wars spin-off.
Opening up on their influence, the Rocketman star shared that the pair would often come to the set with her and became concerned when the small green character wasn’t around – prompting her to ensure his absence is always explained onscreen.
“My kids were on set pretty much every day,” she said. “Even before we came to set, when it was the storyboards for the episode… when we were just conceiving of things, my daughter would come into the editing room and whenever Baby wasn’t on screen, she would lean over to me and be like, ‘Where’s Baby? Where’s Baby? Where’s Baby?’.
“Jon (Favreau, producer) picked up on that, like, ‘Oh yeah – if the kid is wondering where Baby is, then we need to know where Baby is at all times.”
Bryce continued, “There was something with the kids where Baby was very real and Baby was in danger and they needed to see where Baby was at all times… They needed to know Baby was safe, and from that, a variety of moments came up that were constructed just because we wanted everyone to know Baby was safe.”
The first season of The Mandalorian is available on Disney+, with series two and three in the works.
