Leslye Headland Apparently Had to Fight Lucasfilm to Use Yoda in ‘The Acolyte’: “It has to make sense”

‘Star Wars: The Acolyte’ released its finale last week. The show concluded after eight episodes and with the tease of two massive cameos, the prospects for season 2 of the show remain promising.

One of the two cameos that have stirred much spirits in the community is definitely the appearance of Yoda. Even before the show aired fans have been wondering whether the Grandmaster of the Jedi order will make an appearance. The timeline made sense and Yoda’s species does live long enough for him to be present in the majority of Star Wars installments so far.

Back before the show premiered, Leslye commented on how awesome it would be to have Yoda in the show, leaving us under the impression that the character wouldn’t be present. As it turns out it was a closely guarded secret, and for a good reason.

Director of Episodes 6 and 8 of ‘The Acolyte,’ Hanelle M. Culpepper, told Inverse that Leslye had to fight with the studio to have Yoda in the show.

That was the hardest secret to keep all this time, because everyone wants to know stuff. I was so excited that I got to work with Yoda, but I was not able to say anything. Once that scene finally aired — literally once the credits rolled — I was like, “Finally, I can post now!” My husband’s like, “No, wait, because it’s a big spoiler. Give people the chance to see it.” So I haven’t even posted about that yet. But that was such an exciting day for me and Leslye when they brought out the trunk that he was in and you see him there, and with the puppeteer, it’s just amazing how they use the eyes and ears and make it come to life. I massively geeked out on that day. […] She really had to fight for it, actually, but it was all a part of her plan. I give her so much credit for getting it.

Culpepper later explained that Lucasfilm is extremely protective regarding the character and his legacy and that some rules have to be established. Some future planned projects could include Yoda so his appearance in other projects has to make sense:

[Lucasfilm] is just very, very protective of the brand and what happens to the characters. There’s other storylines being developed by Lucasfilm as well, so it all has to fit together. It has to make sense.

If ‘The Acolyte’ gets a second season, fans most likely assume that both he and Darth Plagueis will play a much more active role in the show. However, considering everything that Culpepper mentioned, this seems unlikely to happen. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below!

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