Star Wars: Jon Favreau Can't Believe The Mandalorian Surprise Character Wasn't Leaked

It's safe to say that the world was truly unprepared when the first episode of The Mandalorian finally revealed "the target." But how did creator Jon Favreau manage to keep the surprise character a huge secret? He's not sure, either, but he's also proud of what he's done.

In the premiere episode of The Mandalorian, the titular bounty hunter gets sent to a desert planet by the mysterious client to procure a 50-year-old target. However, it is revealed that the supposedly middle-aged asset is actually an adorable baby who may or may not be related to Yoda. It was a huge surprise and Favreau told Collider that he's happy that he blindsided people with the reveal.

"What I'm most proud of is that we surprised people," Favreau said of the Baby Yoda reveal. "You know how hard that is to do that nowadays? And what type of commitment it took from everybody who was on set and from the studio to hide all the clues that people, especially Star Wars fans, normally tap into? Looking into toy catalogues, looking into marketing materials, looking into style guides, photography, and the fact that that secret was kept is incredible."

Sure, there have been several theories about characters that could show up in The Mandalorian (Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt, just to name a few) but nobody, and I mean NOBODY thought of Baby Yoda. Although it was a huge surprise, fans were actually pleased with it and that's what Favreau is truly proud of.

"It is exciting. It's fun because people are so happy when they're surprised. They're not used to being surprised now—not in a good way," he said with a laugh.

Now that the Baby Yoda is out of the bag (or the facility in the desert planet), people are hoping that we'll see more of him in future episodes. After all, Favreau confirmed that the baby is an important character so we're expecting to see the child in action in The Mandalorian.

The first two episodes of The Mandalorian are currently streaming on Disney+.

Related: Star Wars: The Mandalorian's Rick Famuyiwa on Directing [SPOILERS] in Chapter 2