Jason Sudekis recalls when the internet raged at him for hitting Baby Yoda

The Mandalorian was a hit for a lot of reasons: the tight action, the exploration of some little-seen corners of the Star Wars galaxy, winning performances from actors like Pedro Pascal and Giancarlo Esposito…but let’s be honest: it was all about the baby. The adorable Baby Yoda took the internet by storm, with his soup tipping and Force using. That’s why it came as such a shock in one of the later episodes when a pair of Stormtroopers (played by SNL alum Jason Sudekis and Happy Endings cast member Adam Pally) had Baby Yoda in a sack, and the one played by Sudekis actually hit him…a couple of times!

It was a scandalous moment! I remember being surprised that Disney would even allow a scene where anyone, even a bad guy, beat on a baby. Thank goodness IG-11 came along right after to show these guys what for:

So considering what a shock it was, I’m not too surprised that Sudekis received some blowback online. The actor accepted the walk-on role in part because his wanted his son, Otis, to get an up-close look at that galaxy far, far away. “And I remember he even got to see baby Yoda,” Sudekis told Uproxx. “And it didn’t hit me when that became such a huge thing when the first episode of Mandalorian premiered and everybody went hog wild about Yoda, baby Yoda, it didn’t even hit me then like, ‘Oh s**t.'”

"Anyway so they premiered on a Friday or a Saturday, whatever it was, I know it was the weekend because Otis and I were playing video games and Olivia came into the room and goes, ‘Hey, you’re trending on Twitter’ and I’m not active on social media so in this day and age it’s kind of like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ And then immediately it’s like, ‘Wait, why?’ I have no idea why. I already got a hard enough last name to spell. For it to be trending is bonkers, and then when she says, ‘apparently you punched Baby Yoda’ and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s right!’ I totally forgot that I literally hit… then I watched it and I was like, ‘I’ll be darned. How about that?’ So that was the extent of it. It was very surreal and I started getting texts from friends going, ‘You bastard’ and people saying like, ‘Did you really get to wear the suit or was that just your voice?’ All those funny questions. And Liv is active on social media so I knew she was catching some guff on my behalf."

Once again, I’m just kind of shocked the show featured a scene at all where anyone hit a baby. You leave Baby Yoda alone, bad men of the galaxy!

But seriously, while it’s not okay that the internet pounced on Sudekis for playing a part, it’s not shocking, and it sounds like most of the blowback was good-humored. Or if it wasn’t, he’s taking it in stride.

In other Star Wars TV news, Deborah Chow — who directed a few episodes of The Mandalorian, talked to The Hollywood Reporter about what it’s going to be like directing episodes of the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi show with Ewan McGregor. Unlike on The Mandalorian, she won’t just come in for her episodes and then leave, but will instead direct the whole miniseries:

"It’s definitely going to be different, just in terms of the sheer workload, obviously, of doing the whole thing. But in some ways, I’m going to miss having a team, and having people who are there to bounce ideas off of. But then obviously the flip side is, it is nice to have a coherent voice and know what you’re doing from beginning to end."

There’s are rumors swirling that Disney is looking to connect some of its upcoming Star Wars shows to be part of a larger shared universe. Frankly I hate that idea, but even if it came to pass, the Obi-Wan miniseries, which is set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, would stand on its own, so it would make sense to have one creative managing the whole thing.

We’ll have to wait a while before confirming anything for sure. The second season of The Mandalorian is due out this October, with the Obi-Wan show to follow some time after.

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h/t SyFy Wire, Cinema Blend