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Jason Sudeikis punched Baby Yoda, and The Mandalorian fans punch back

It's as if millions of voices cried out in terror and said: "Do NOT mess with Baby Yoda."

Gael Cooper
CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of "Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the '70s and '80s," as well as "The Totally Sweet '90s." She's been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She's Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she'll be first in line.
Expertise Breaking news, entertainment, lifestyle, travel, food, shopping and deals, product reviews, money and finance, video games, pets, history, books, technology history, generational studies. Credentials
  • Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Gael Cooper
2 min read
baby-yoda-with-signet

Baby Yoda, the cutest darn baby in the Star Wars universe

Disney

If there's one lesson people who come in contact with The Mandalorian should learn, it's this: Do NOT mess with Baby Yoda. The beloved little green guy (whose real name we still don't know), may be 50 years old, but in his species, that's still a baby, and he's also the cutest darn baby in the Star Wars universe. Do not chase him, drop him, poke him or threaten to experiment on him because Mando (Pedro Pascal) and his ragtag band of pals will make you pay. It's a lesson comedian, actor and Saturday Night Live vet Jason Sudeikis should have learned before now.

Warning: Mild spoilers for the season finale of The Mandalorian ahead. 

So in the opening scene of the first-season finale, made available on the Disney Plus streaming service Friday, Baby Yoda has been snatched away by two scout troopers, played by Sudeikis and Adam Pally (The Mindy Project). They're hidden in trooper armor, so you can't see their faces, but neither of them are too fond of the little guy. Both of them punch -- yes, punch -- the bag containing Baby Yoda, Sudeikis to keep him quiet and Pally after he prods the little dude and gets his finger bitten for doing so.

No real spoilers here, but Baby Yoda, of course, lives to sip soup and play hide-and-seek another day, and the troopers learn not to touch the cutest alien in the galaxy. But Sudeikis and Pally may never be forgiven for those punches. Even Sudeikis' comedy alma mater, The Second City, apologized for its alum's behavior.

"The Second City does not condone the punching of Baby Yoda by alumnus Jason Sudeikis," the group said in a tweet sent Friday. "Please respect our privacy during this difficult time."

A representative for Sudeikis didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. But come on, you just can't pound on the internet's beloved baby like that and expect to get away with it. "Dear Jason Sudeikis, if you hit Baby Yoda one more time, I will find you... and destroy you," wrote one Twitter user.

Some envisioned Baby Yoda taking a very direct revenge.

Granted, however, the troopers were hilarious, especially when demonstrating their totally terrible aim, which explains why their comrades never managed to take out Luke, Leia and Han in all those Star Wars movies. "What I want most out of The Mandalorian season 2 is more of Jason Sudeikis and Adam Pally's Imperial scout troopers," wrote one Twitter user.

Wrote another, "Please tell me the season finale of The Mandalorian is just a backdoor pilot for a spinoff about Jason Sudeikis as a sarcastic, inefficient scout trooper."

Mandalorian fans will have to wait awhile, but they'll eventually get more of the series. Showrunner Jon Favreau confirmed on Friday that a second season of The Mandalorian is coming in fall 2020.