When The Mandalorian, the first live-action Star Wars series, premiered on Disney+ last fall, the streaming service did not include any mention of The Child (the creature affectionately known as Baby Yoda) in the Season 1 marketing, saving the character’s reveal as a surprise for fans.
That’s all changed this year, as The Child/Baby Yoda is a central focus of the Season 2 trailer, which was released this morning.
In the new season, bounty hunter Din Djarin (the titular Mandalorian played by Pedro Pascal) is tasked with reuniting the creature, whom he bonded with in Season 1, “with its own kind.” He asks, “You expect me to search the galaxy and deliver this creature to a race of enemy sorcerers?” The response: “This is the way.”
Later in the trailer, the Mandalorian is told, “this is no place for a child,” and simply responds, “Wherever I go, he goes.”
Two weeks ago, Disney+ announced The Mandalorian’s second season will premiere Oct. 30. Episodes will stream on a weekly basis through November and December.
Baby Yoda helped the series become a cultural phenomenon when the show premiered last fall, and its first season brought in 15 Emmy nominations, including outstanding drama series.
The space western finished filming its second season prior to Covid-19-related production shutdowns earlier this year.
Season 2 will arrive on Disney+ at a crucial time for the service, which offered generous discounts for customers willing to pay upfront for annual and three-year subscriptions, plus an enormous free year giveaway with telco giant Verizon. Those deals helped buoy early sign-ups and subscribers.
More than 5 million people took advantage of the Verizon deal and got a free year of the streaming service, the company said earlier this year, and while Disney+ most recently reported that the streamer had 60.5 million subscribers as of Aug. 3, it is now tasked with retaining those customers while continuing on its growth trajectory.
That task has been made more difficult as production shutdowns have hamstrung the release of other originals, including several planned Marvel original series that had been set to debut on the service in 2020.