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Of Course There Was A Secret In That Big 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Cameo

Of Course There Was A Secret In That Big 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi' Cameo

Warning! “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” spoilers!

When it comes to “Star Wars” cameos, there is do or do not. There is no try. And “The Last Jedi” certainly did.

In the film ― after Rey (Daisy Ridley) leaves Ahch-To to make contact with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) ― a frustrated Luke (Mark Hamill) decides it’s time to destroy the ancient Jedi texts and the tree they are kept in. In that moment, the audience is treated to the return of everyone’s favorite little Kermit the Frog/Miss Piggy hybrid, Yoda.

But it’s not that weird, acrobatic CG Yoda from the prequels. It’s puppet Yoda, with a Force-ghost glow.

Force-ghost Yoda returns to talk some sense into Luke, and it works. Luke seems to have a change of heart over Rey and the Jedi. And, just because he’s got style, Yoda uses a lightning bolt to destroy the ancient tree and (supposedly) the Jedi texts with it anyway. His explanation: There’s nothing in there that Rey doesn’t already possess.

On the Yoda scene, director Rian Johnson said, “That was something that very early in the process I realized would make sense, especially when Luke’s arc started to define itself.” He added: “I thought, well, who can actually kick Luke’s butt a little and speak truth to this guy? And the obvious answer was Yoda.”

The Force is with that cameo, but there’s also a secret for watchful viewers.

Remember that while he was destroying the tree, Yoda claimed there was nothing in there that Rey didn’t already have. Later in the movie, the Jedi texts briefly appear on the Millennium Falcon, a shot Johnson confirmed to HuffPost. Apparently, Yoda said all that because Rey had already taken the books.

“You’ve got sharp eyes,” Johnson said when we asked him about the books showing up later.

Thankfully, other behind-the-scenes “Star Wars” crew members shared their secrets about Rey’s discovery of the Jedi texts (and Yoda’s cameo):

That Yoda was close to the original.

Sunset Boulevard via Getty Images

“I remember saying to Rian, we have to make him as solid as we possibly can,” creature and droid FX creative supervisor Neal Scanlan told HuffPost. “The Force ghost aspect is obviously important, but as a fan, we have to give as much as we can. We can’t take that away from the moment.”

Scanlan said the choice was made to have Yoda appear as a puppet, and not a completely computer-generated character. In fact, Lucasfilm provided original Yoda molds. Even the original puppeteer, Frank Oz, was involved in the process early on.

“The goal was to create Yoda in absolute faithful likeness,” Scanlan said.

The creatures supervisor said he had a profound moment when he took home the Yoda head to apply the skin and finishing touches.

“This little face appeared, and I knew this is exactly what [original Yoda designer Stuart Freeborn] had gone through in his workshop,” Scanlan said. “It was a magical moment, a very special one for me.”

Because of that, there was very little CGI.