Action figures are arguably one of the biggest reasonsStar Warsbecame the world-conquering franchise it is today.George Lucasinfamously made a killing off of the merchandising rights that 20th Century Fox simply wasn’t interested in back when the original film came out in 1977, andStar Warshas remained a permanent fixture in toy stores ever since. Each new film or TV series release sees a whole new slate of merchandise for fans to collect (I myself actually went to a midnight release ofRevenge of the Sithmerchandise at Walmart back in 2005, and I refuse to apologize for that decision). So why in the name of Jabba’s rugburned belly can we not buy any adorable Baby Yoda plushies based on the hit new Disney+ seriesThe Mandalorian?
In a recent red carpet interview at the premiere of the the first-ever live actionStar WarsTV show, series creator and showrunnerJon Favreaushed some light on the conspicuous absence of anyMandalorianmerchandise, specifically in regards to everyone’s favorite lil’ Jedi booger.
“I have to thank Disney and Lucasfilm, because the way the cat usually gets out of the bag with that stuff is merchandising and toy catalogs and things like that. So they really back us up. We really wanted to have it be that you had to watch it yourself, so that every time you watch the show, there are new twists and secrets that come out. That requires a lot of restraint from the people who are footing the bill, saying they’re gonna hold back on certain things so that the public doesn’t know ahead of time. Part of that was holding back on some of the merchandise and holding back on some of the characters.”
Basically, we don’t have any sweet Boda merch (what the Collider office has bravely decided to call Baby Yoda until his or her inevitably ridiculous name is finally revealed) because Favreau wanted to preserve the surprise of the character’s reveal. That’s remarkable in a few ways - one, merchandise (and specifically action figures) have a long history of spoiling their source material,Star Warsmerchandise in particular. Every time a newStar Warscomes out, there are entire forum threads dedicated to fans trying to extrapolate every conceivable detail of a newStar Warsaction figure into theories about the upcoming film. That’s because Lucasfilm has long known the importance of havingStar Warsmerchandise on the shelf to coincide with each new release, because as I mentioned,Star Warsis an empire largely built on merchandise. But the second and more interesting implication here is that Favreau made a request based entirely on artistic merit - he wanted to keep his story from being spoiled - and Disney actually listened to him. That’s a lot of money left on the table, and I doubt they would’ve granted such a request to anyone other than Favreau, who essentially created the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has made Disney billions of dollars already with other projects likeThe Lion King.
Check out the full interview with Favreau and series directorDave Filonibelow, and make sure to keep watchingThe Mandalorianon Disney+. For more on the bounty hunting show,check out our reviewandour recap of Episode 2.
