It turns out that The Mandalorian crew struggled to get to grips with Baby Yoda.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, executive producer Dave Filoni revealed that young Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) was a bit of a sticking point during production.

“Honestly, it’s something I never would’ve done because Yoda is Yoda,” he said. “I think people now look back and think it was like a slam dunk. But we were very cautious. The amount of measuring, especially in the first season, for how we were framing this kid took a lot of effort.”

When The Mandalorian debuted back in 2019, Baby Yoda was an instant hit. It was the opposite of whatever happened with Jar-Jar Binks – everyone loved the little green fella who would eventually be called Grogu… but the team at Lucasfilm wasn’t so sure.

Part of that was down to the original concept art. The Vanity Fair report describes off-putting images of wrinkled and feral hands that had the show's creators second guessing the character. Thankfully, a perfect piece of art from Chris Alzmann made Grogu a reality. “He had kind of a goofy, ugly look," said Favreau. "We didn’t want him too cute.”

Baby Yoda, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. pic.twitter.com/0Ie1NbRWns

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) May 17, 2022

Another issue of debate for if Grogu should be a character was lore, which all goes back to the legacy of George Lucas. Favreau and Filoni didn’t want to take away the mystery surrounding Yoda – a creature whose origin remains shrouded in secrecy to this day. Reveal too much about Grogu and you risk revealing even more about the mysterious Jedi master.

“It gave us some pause,” revealed Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy. “[Jon Favreau] and Dave [Filoni] debated that quite ferociously.”

But it’s also about how these Star Wars characters are perceived. Think back to Episode I: The Phantom Menace and you’ll get some idea of why Lucasfilm might have been reluctant.

Jar-Jar Binks was the prequel trilogy’s attempt to create a fun, child-like character that would likely shift a lot of merchandise. But the character has long been maligned after his terrible reception. Even the Ewoks weren’t a smash hit with everyone. Thankfully, Grogu has already passed the test and became an instant hit with the fans.

The real animatronic Grogu used on-set was eventually put together in three months, and requires three or four puppeteers to bring to life. But how will his story pan out? For now, we’ll have to wait and see, but it looks as though he’s going to face plenty of tough choices. And turning his back on the Jedi could lead him down a dark path yet.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

It turns out that The Mandalorian crew struggled to get to grips with Baby Yoda.

During an interview with Vanity Fair, executive producer Dave Filoni revealed that young Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) was a bit of a sticking point during production.

“Honestly, it’s something I never would’ve done because Yoda is Yoda,” he said. “I think people now look back and think it was like a slam dunk. But we were very cautious. The amount of measuring, especially in the first season, for how we were framing this kid took a lot of effort.”

When The Mandalorian debuted back in 2019, Baby Yoda was an instant hit. It was the opposite of whatever happened with Jar-Jar Binks – everyone loved the little green fella who would eventually be called Grogu… but the team at Lucasfilm wasn’t so sure.

Part of that was down to the original concept art. The Vanity Fair report describes off-putting images of wrinkled and feral hands that had the show's creators second guessing the character. Thankfully, a perfect piece of art from Chris Alzmann made Grogu a reality. “He had kind of a goofy, ugly look," said Favreau. "We didn’t want him too cute.”

Baby Yoda, photographed by Annie Leibovitz. pic.twitter.com/0Ie1NbRWns

— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) May 17, 2022

Another issue of debate for if Grogu should be a character was lore, which all goes back to the legacy of George Lucas. Favreau and Filoni didn’t want to take away the mystery surrounding Yoda – a creature whose origin remains shrouded in secrecy to this day. Reveal too much about Grogu and you risk revealing even more about the mysterious Jedi master.

“It gave us some pause,” revealed Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy. “[Jon Favreau] and Dave [Filoni] debated that quite ferociously.”

But it’s also about how these Star Wars characters are perceived. Think back to Episode I: The Phantom Menace and you’ll get some idea of why Lucasfilm might have been reluctant.

Jar-Jar Binks was the prequel trilogy’s attempt to create a fun, child-like character that would likely shift a lot of merchandise. But the character has long been maligned after his terrible reception. Even the Ewoks weren’t a smash hit with everyone. Thankfully, Grogu has already passed the test and became an instant hit with the fans.

The real animatronic Grogu used on-set was eventually put together in three months, and requires three or four puppeteers to bring to life. But how will his story pan out? For now, we’ll have to wait and see, but it looks as though he’s going to face plenty of tough choices. And turning his back on the Jedi could lead him down a dark path yet.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.

In Disney's latest upfront presentation to advertisers, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Fiege revealed that Loki was the most watched MUC series on Disney Plus.

Fiege's statement backs up viewership numbers provided by third-party services like Nielsen and Samba. According to Nielsen data, Loki has clocked up a staggering 5.23 billion minutes of watchtime. That equates to an average of 872 million minutes per episode.

According to Nielsen's ratings, the Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm shows are far and away the most popular series on Disney+. Nielsen figures obtained by THR pointed to Loki being the only show to exceed 1 billion minutes of watch time in a single week (although The Mandalorian remains the most-watched Disney+ show overall).

Current data for full-season watch times for the four live-action Disney+ Marvel shows released in 2021 are:

• Loki - 5.23 billion minutes watched (872 million minutes per episode average)
• WandaVision - 4.8 billion minutes (534 million minutes per episode average)
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - 4.15 billion minutes (692 million minutes per episode average)
• Hawkeye - 3.46 billion minutes - (577 million minutes per episode average)

As for the most recent MCU show in 2022, the last Nielsen chart for the week of April 11-17, 2022 reveals Moon Knight reached a watch time of 638 million minutes. That's all views for the week across the three episodes, not total watch time for the series to date. The debut week was 418 million minutes, while week two had a watch time of 608 million minutes. That averages out to 555 minutes of watch time per episode on average so far, though that number could up or down, depending on how the following three weeks end up.

"When we were first asked to start working on programming for Disney+, we knew we wanted to weave together storylines between the films and our series that are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the MCU, as a whole," said Fiege explained during the presentation. "From the six series we’ve watched so far, we’ve introduced fantastic new characters, but we’ve also been able to dive deeper into the lives of the backstories of some of the MCU’s favorite superheroes.”

Fiege said that Loki Season 2 is heading into production in the coming weeks and that most of the cast from Season 1 will be returning. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who directed episodes two and four of the series, are directing Loki's second Disney+ outing.

Fiege also showed off the teaser trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, which is dubeting on August 17. Prior to that, Ms. Marvel will bow on the service on June 8, before new hero Kamala Khan heads over to co-star in The Marvels, slated for release on July 2023.

In Disney's latest upfront presentation to advertisers, Marvel Studios boss Kevin Fiege revealed that Loki was the most watched MUC series on Disney Plus.

Fiege's statement backs up viewership numbers provided by third-party services like Nielsen and Samba. According to Nielsen data, Loki has clocked up a staggering 5.23 billion minutes of watchtime. That equates to an average of 872 million minutes per episode.

According to Nielsen's ratings, the Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm shows are far and away the most popular series on Disney+. Nielsen figures obtained by THR pointed to Loki being the only show to exceed 1 billion minutes of watch time in a single week (although The Mandalorian remains the most-watched Disney+ show overall).

Current data for full-season watch times for the four live-action Disney+ Marvel shows released in 2021 are:

• Loki - 5.23 billion minutes watched (872 million minutes per episode average)
• WandaVision - 4.8 billion minutes (534 million minutes per episode average)
• The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - 4.15 billion minutes (692 million minutes per episode average)
• Hawkeye - 3.46 billion minutes - (577 million minutes per episode average)

As for the most recent MCU show in 2022, the last Nielsen chart for the week of April 11-17, 2022 reveals Moon Knight reached a watch time of 638 million minutes. That's all views for the week across the three episodes, not total watch time for the series to date. The debut week was 418 million minutes, while week two had a watch time of 608 million minutes. That averages out to 555 minutes of watch time per episode on average so far, though that number could up or down, depending on how the following three weeks end up.

"When we were first asked to start working on programming for Disney+, we knew we wanted to weave together storylines between the films and our series that are part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or the MCU, as a whole," said Fiege explained during the presentation. "From the six series we’ve watched so far, we’ve introduced fantastic new characters, but we’ve also been able to dive deeper into the lives of the backstories of some of the MCU’s favorite superheroes.”

Fiege said that Loki Season 2 is heading into production in the coming weeks and that most of the cast from Season 1 will be returning. Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, who directed episodes two and four of the series, are directing Loki's second Disney+ outing.

Fiege also showed off the teaser trailer for She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, which is dubeting on August 17. Prior to that, Ms. Marvel will bow on the service on June 8, before new hero Kamala Khan heads over to co-star in The Marvels, slated for release on July 2023.

Thunderful Games has four separate SteamWorld games in development with three expected to launch next year.

The company revealed during its latest financial results that SteamWorld Headhunter - a third person action adventure that was revealed in November - is just one of four different genres the SteamWorld franchise is exploring. It is expected to launch in 2023, along with two others.

Those two, codenamed 'Strawberry' and 'Coffee', will be followed in 2024 by 'Caramel'. Are all listed as "SteamWorld IP" games, with Strawberry and Coffee actually listed before Headhunter in Thunderful's development timeline.

Strawberry is a puzzle game being developed for mobile, Coffee is a city-building game for PC and console, and Caramel is a turn-based tactical shooter and strategy game in development for PC, console, and mobile.

Mixing and matching gameplay styles isn't unusual for the SteamWorld franchise which has released games in the deck-building, platformer, and Metroidvania genres since the original Tower Defense game was released in 2010.

The number of games in development is a little surprising though, as Thunderful plans to release as many SteamWorld games in next two years as it has in the last nine.

While Headhunter was only official announced in November, the game's official Twitter account revealed in May last year that several SteamWorld were in development, though we now know a bit more about how many, what they are, and when they'll be released.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Thunderful Games has four separate SteamWorld games in development with three expected to launch next year.

The company revealed during its latest financial results that SteamWorld Headhunter - a third person action adventure that was revealed in November - is just one of four different genres the SteamWorld franchise is exploring. It is expected to launch in 2023, along with two others.

Those two, codenamed 'Strawberry' and 'Coffee', will be followed in 2024 by 'Caramel'. Are all listed as "SteamWorld IP" games, with Strawberry and Coffee actually listed before Headhunter in Thunderful's development timeline.

Strawberry is a puzzle game being developed for mobile, Coffee is a city-building game for PC and console, and Caramel is a turn-based tactical shooter and strategy game in development for PC, console, and mobile.

Mixing and matching gameplay styles isn't unusual for the SteamWorld franchise which has released games in the deck-building, platformer, and Metroidvania genres since the original Tower Defense game was released in 2010.

The number of games in development is a little surprising though, as Thunderful plans to release as many SteamWorld games in next two years as it has in the last nine.

While Headhunter was only official announced in November, the game's official Twitter account revealed in May last year that several SteamWorld were in development, though we now know a bit more about how many, what they are, and when they'll be released.

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelancer who occasionally remembers to tweet @thelastdinsdale. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.

Lost in the hype around today's She-Hulk trailer was a brief glimpse of the latest Marvel character to make their live-action debut. Yep, Frog Man is officially a part of the MCU.

Frog Man can be seen very, very briefly in the new trailer, in which he vaguely resembles the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Naturally, fans on social media were very excited by this development.

Wow, SHE HULK looks great but... more importantly:

LIVE ACTION FROG MAN
LIVE ACTION FROG MAN
LIVE ACTION FROG MAN
LIVE ACTION FROG MAN pic.twitter.com/ZsZUw5wR9g

— kate bush's husband (@airbagged) May 17, 2022

The GAWD?!?! #FrogMan #SheHulk pic.twitter.com/annea9alTN

— TASK the Ol’ Nerdy Bastard (@UpToTASK) May 17, 2022

So who is Frog Man? In the comics he's the son of Vincent Patilio, a Spider-Man villain who goes by the name Leap Frog. Unlike his dad, Eugene Patilio is a hero, though not a particularly notable one.

Variously described as "a joke character" and "just a dude," Frog Man can be summed up with this description from 2021's Iron Man #5: "Zero solo titles, action figures, trading cards or real abilities. Current gig: Busboy at Isaac's Oysters in The Village."

In short, his appearance in the new She-Hulk trailer truly is the best day of his life.

We'll see what role Frog Man winds up taking in the upcoming MCU series, where he will join Wong, Abomination, and Bruce Banner among other familiar faces. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, which stars Tatian Maslany as the eponymous heroine, will be out on Disney Plus on August 17.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

Lost in the hype around today's She-Hulk trailer was a brief glimpse of the latest Marvel character to make their live-action debut. Yep, Frog Man is officially a part of the MCU.

Frog Man can be seen very, very briefly in the new trailer, in which he vaguely resembles the Green Ranger from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Naturally, fans on social media were very excited by this development.

Wow, SHE HULK looks great but... more importantly:

LIVE ACTION FROG MAN
LIVE ACTION FROG MAN
LIVE ACTION FROG MAN
LIVE ACTION FROG MAN pic.twitter.com/ZsZUw5wR9g

— kate bush's husband (@airbagged) May 17, 2022

The GAWD?!?! #FrogMan #SheHulk pic.twitter.com/annea9alTN

— TASK the Ol’ Nerdy Bastard (@UpToTASK) May 17, 2022

So who is Frog Man? In the comics he's the son of Vincent Patilio, a Spider-Man villain who goes by the name Leap Frog. Unlike his dad, Eugene Patilio is a hero, though not a particularly notable one.

Variously described as "a joke character" and "just a dude," Frog Man can be summed up with this description from 2021's Iron Man #5: "Zero solo titles, action figures, trading cards or real abilities. Current gig: Busboy at Isaac's Oysters in The Village."

In short, his appearance in the new She-Hulk trailer truly is the best day of his life.

We'll see what role Frog Man winds up taking in the upcoming MCU series, where he will join Wong, Abomination, and Bruce Banner among other familiar faces. She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, which stars Tatian Maslany as the eponymous heroine, will be out on Disney Plus on August 17.

Kat Bailey is a Senior News Editor at IGN as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.

We don't know much of the cast for the upcoming Ahsoka series on Disney+, outside Rosario Dawson reprising the lead role but in an interview with Vanity Fair, Obi-Wan himself did confirm another actress that's joining the project, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

THR previously reported that Mary Elizabeth Winstead had joined the cast of Ahsoka and Ewan McGregor backed up that news in a new Star Wars profile for Vanity Fair.

“My partner, Mary [Elizabeth Winstead], is doing that Star Wars series with Rosario and she’s about to start,” said McGregor in the interview. The actor also mentioned the pair's son, who was born last summer. "Our little boy has been born into this massive Star Wars family. He will either embrace it or really go the other way. I don’t know. Maybe he’ll be a Trekkie!”

A random quote in the middle of a massive Lucasfilm-backed interview on the future of Star Wars is as good a place as any for official confirmation. There are no further details on which character Winstead is playing.

In fact, we're pretty low on overall details about Ahsoka. The show began production earlier this month, with Ahsoka creator and show executive producer Dave Filoni on board.

It's likely that the show will pick up the former padawan's adventures after Star Wars: Rebels and her appearances in The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett. We can expect to see some part of the show taking place potentially before the events of Return of the Jedi, as Hayden Christensen will reportedly be reprising his role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in the series. Along for the ride are actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, a formerly-animated character from Star Wars: Rebels being brought to life, as well as Ray Stevenson in an undisclosed villain role.

Rumors, reports, and speculation do point to Ahsoka continuing a plot thread started in Rebels, with Ahsoka and Wren searching the galaxy for Grand Admiral Thrawn and their friend Ezra Bridger. Filoni agreed that he wants Ahsoka's story to keep moving forward.

"Ahsoka is a continuous story," Filoni said. "It is definitely driving toward a goal, in my mind, as opposed to being little singular adventures. That’s what I want the character to be doing, and I think that’s what fans want now. They have such a relationship with her. I’ve only recently started to understand that all those kids that watched Clone Wars are now a lot older—they’re very excited about all the things they grew up with, as they should be."

The series will premiere on Disney+ in 2023. This year, however, fans get to look forward to Obi-Wan Kenobi, which will premiere with two episodes on May 27, 2022. Andor, the series involving the spy who appeared in Rogue One, will be launching sometime in late summer 2022.

Mike Williams is a Freelance Writer for IGN.

We don't know much of the cast for the upcoming Ahsoka series on Disney+, outside Rosario Dawson reprising the lead role but in an interview with Vanity Fair, Obi-Wan himself did confirm another actress that's joining the project, Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

THR previously reported that Mary Elizabeth Winstead had joined the cast of Ahsoka and Ewan McGregor backed up that news in a new Star Wars profile for Vanity Fair.

“My partner, Mary [Elizabeth Winstead], is doing that Star Wars series with Rosario and she’s about to start,” said McGregor in the interview. The actor also mentioned the pair's son, who was born last summer. "Our little boy has been born into this massive Star Wars family. He will either embrace it or really go the other way. I don’t know. Maybe he’ll be a Trekkie!”

A random quote in the middle of a massive Lucasfilm-backed interview on the future of Star Wars is as good a place as any for official confirmation. There are no further details on which character Winstead is playing.

In fact, we're pretty low on overall details about Ahsoka. The show began production earlier this month, with Ahsoka creator and show executive producer Dave Filoni on board.

It's likely that the show will pick up the former padawan's adventures after Star Wars: Rebels and her appearances in The Mandalorian and Book of Boba Fett. We can expect to see some part of the show taking place potentially before the events of Return of the Jedi, as Hayden Christensen will reportedly be reprising his role as Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader in the series. Along for the ride are actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo as Sabine Wren, a formerly-animated character from Star Wars: Rebels being brought to life, as well as Ray Stevenson in an undisclosed villain role.

Rumors, reports, and speculation do point to Ahsoka continuing a plot thread started in Rebels, with Ahsoka and Wren searching the galaxy for Grand Admiral Thrawn and their friend Ezra Bridger. Filoni agreed that he wants Ahsoka's story to keep moving forward.

"Ahsoka is a continuous story," Filoni said. "It is definitely driving toward a goal, in my mind, as opposed to being little singular adventures. That’s what I want the character to be doing, and I think that’s what fans want now. They have such a relationship with her. I’ve only recently started to understand that all those kids that watched Clone Wars are now a lot older—they’re very excited about all the things they grew up with, as they should be."

The series will premiere on Disney+ in 2023. This year, however, fans get to look forward to Obi-Wan Kenobi, which will premiere with two episodes on May 27, 2022. Andor, the series involving the spy who appeared in Rogue One, will be launching sometime in late summer 2022.

Mike Williams is a Freelance Writer for IGN.