Grand Master Yoda has been a big part of Star Wars. His character is already as iconic as the franchise. He plays important roles in the Clone Wars, training Luke Skywalker, unlocking the path to immortality, and the life of the Jedi per se. So, many express their excitement when they see him in the last episode of Star Wars: The Acolyte, even if it’s just a cameo. To talk about that brief appearance, the series episode director Hanelle Culpepper reveals how it felt to include Yoda in the finale.
Culpepper directed Episodes 6, Teach / Corrupt, and 8, The Acolyte, where Yoda was briefly seen waiting for Vernestra Rwoh (Rebecca Henderson) before the show ended. In an interview with Screen Rant, the filmmaker detailed what it was like to feature the fan-favorite green alien in the finale. With the character’s long history in Star Wars, she felt like a kid again when she learned she would work with the legendary Jedi Master.
“I’m not sure which puppet they used for The Last Jedi,” she said, referring to the movie in which Yoda last appeared. I can tell you that I was like a kid when I learned that I had the opportunity to work with Yoda.”
For Culpepper, the day they shot Yoda’s scene was “quite magical,” as they all saw the iconic character. However, as a puppeteer was behind in bringing Yoda to life, it was a mind-boggling experience for them to know they were looking at a puppet.
“But you’re like, ‘No, he is real now!’” she continued. “And I remember Leslye [Headland] and I were just giddy... It was very cool...”
Leslye Admits to Being Starstruck After Seeing Yoda in Person in Star Wars: The Acolyte
Like Culpepper, showrunner Leslye Headland also experienced her own emotional moment when Yoda appeared on the set of The Acolyte. She admitted she had never been so starstruck until she saw his image in person, feeling like her entire life flashed before her eyes.
“I felt like I was meeting an entity, not a puppet, but an entity,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
And she wasn’t the only one who felt that moment. Even the grown men on set were in tears when they saw Yoda. Even her toughest and coolest cameraman, who she said won numerous awards for the war movie All Quiet on the Western Front, teared up and thanked her for letting him be part of that magical scene.
“Yoda brings people to tears. It's just astonishing,” she added.
Leslye Headland Reveals the Importance of Yoda’s Appearance in Star Wars: The Acolyte
Ahead of The Acolyte’s premiere, fans assumed Yoda would be part of the series as he was already around during the High Republic era. He appeared in the High Republic novels set 100 and 200 years before the show. But though he plays an integral part in the whole universe of Star Wars, he has an important part to play in The Acolyte.
With Darth Plagueis’ cameo in the finale, Headland explained that balancing the scales and featuring Yoda was imperative, too. With the legendary Sith and Jedi masters’ appearances, the series creator just put the balance between the light and dark sides.
“If you were going to introduce Plagueis, then you needed a formidable other side of that,” she said. “As somebody that knows who Plagueis is and knows where the lineage of the Sith is headed, it would be imbalanced if you didn't have somebody on the light side who carried as much gravitas.”
Headland added that Plagueis’ cameo had always been in the script and was meant to be a big tease for the potential The Acolyte Season 2. However, compared to the Dark Lord, who had a full scene as he watched Qimir (Manny Jacinto) and Osha (Amandla Stenberg) take off to look for Mae (Stenberg), she wasn’t ready to give Yoda a full sequence yet.
“I knew I didn't want to have a [full] scene with Yoda,” she continued. “I was like, that's not something I'm ready to take on.”
Yoda’s appearance in The Acolyte finale was the perfect ending for the series, leaving fans wanting more. As Headland earlier teased, the Grand Master would have a bigger role in the potential second season, setting up “future storylines.” So, viewers should see his epic comeback.
All episodes of The Acolyte are available on Disney+.
