Star Wars legend George Lucas in the end unearths strange explanation why Yoda talks backwards in decades-old thriller

George Lucas has in the end printed the solution to a query Star Wars enthusiasts have had for many years. 

The filmmaker, 80, whose Lucasfilm has showed a brand new Star Wars journey starring Ryan Gosling, 44, used to be celebrating the 45th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back in Los Angeles at the opening evening of the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival. 

In his dialog with TCM’s Ben Mankowitz, Lucas in the end printed the thriller in the back of Yoda’s backward speech. 

‘Because should you talk common English, other people may not pay attention that a lot,’ the director advised the in step with Variety. 

‘But if he had an accessory, or it is in reality laborious to grasp what he is announcing, they center of attention on what he is announcing.’

Describing the problem he used to be dealing with, Lucas stated Yoda ‘used to be mainly the thinker of the film. I had to determine a technique to get other people to in truth pay attention — particularly 12-year-olds.’

That looked as if it would have solved the issue. Since it is debut in 1980, The Empire Strikes Back has earned greater than $550 million international. 

When requested why Yoda spoke backwards, Lucas printed: ‘Because should you talk common English, other people may not pay attention that a lot,’ in line with Variety 

Yoda, an exceptionally tough and extremely revered Jedi Master, used to be famend for his profound knowledge, steadily expressed in his unique inverted sentences, like, ‘Powerful you might have develop into; the darkish facet I sense in you.’ 

In the unique Star Wars trilogy, Yoda lives on my own at the swamp planet Dagobah. Introduced as Obi-Wan Kenobi’s former mentor, he trains Luke Skywalker within the Force till his demise at 900 years previous. 

Lucas in the past described Yoda as a ‘little Dalai Lama.’ 

The maximum iconic voice of Yoda is Frank Oz, who voiced and puppeteered the nature in six Star Wars motion pictures. 

He used to be the voice of Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Return of the Jedi (1983), The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), Revenge of the Sith (2005), The Last Jedi (2017) and Star Wars Rebels (animated sequence) in addition to different quite a lot of video video games. 

For Yoda’s efficiency in The Empire Strikes Back, Oz operated the puppet’s mouth and forehead via putting his hand into its head. 

Kathryn Mullen, Wendy Froud, and David Barclay managed Yoda’s eyes, ears, and different frame portions the use of cables, strings, hydraulics, and digital mechanisms. 

Other actors have additionally voiced Yoda in several initiatives come with Tom Kane, Piotr Michael, and John Lithgow. 

Though Yoda died in entrance of Luke in 1983’s Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, Grogu, steadily referred to colloquially as ‘Baby Yoda’, is a central personality within the Star Wars Disney+ tv sequence The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, and belongs to the similar mysterious species. 

Further revealing his inventive procedure in the most recent interview, Lucas stated, ‘I write like a blueprint. It’s no longer were given a large number of element on it.’

‘And after I were given the script [for ‘Star Wars’] finished, there used to be a 130 to 180 pages,’ he defined. 

‘So I reduce it into 3 portions and stated, ‘I’ll center of attention at the first one, as a result of we will by no means get sufficient cash to make the entire thing.”

The director stated if Yoda, ‘had an accessory, or it is in reality laborious to grasp what he is announcing, they center of attention on what he is announcing’; Mark Hamill and Yoda pictured in Empire Strikes Back (1980)

Describing the problem he used to be dealing with, Lucas stated Yoda ‘used to be mainly the thinker of the film. I had to determine a technique to get other people to in truth pay attention — particularly 12-year-olds,’ he advised TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz

Yoda, an exceptionally tough Jedi Master, used to be famend for his profound knowledge and unique inverted sentences, like, ‘Powerful you might have develop into; the darkish facet I sense in you’

The maximum iconic voice of Yoda is Frank Oz, who voiced and puppeteered the nature in six Star Wars motion pictures; observed in a nonetheless from Empire Strikes again

Lucas accept what would lately be observed as an astronomically small price for making the unique movie, however he had a explanation why for doing so. 

‘I stated, “I’ll do it for $50,000, to write and direct and produce… But I do want the sequels.” And I sought after the rights as a result of I’m going to make the ones motion pictures it doesn’t matter what occurs to this one.’

Another strange situation of the contract would finally end up converting his lifestyles, and the movie trade. 

‘I stated, “besides that, I’d like licensing.” They went, “What’s licensing?”’ and gave in to his terms. 

‘They talked to themselves, and they went, “He’s by no means going so that you can do this. It takes them one thousand million bucks and a yr to make a toy or make anything else. There’s no cash in that in any respect.”‘

According to CCLCT.com, Star Wars toys have earned some $32 billion. 

Lucas also recalled that he was underwhelmed by 20th Century Fox’s efforts to market the film, and took matters into his own hands.

‘I got the kids walking around Disneyland and the Comic Cons and all that kind of stuff to advertise the movie,’ he revealed. 

‘And that’s why Fox was so shocked when the first day the lines were all around the block.’ 

Lucas famously sold the rights to Stars Wars to Disney for a staggering $4billion in 2012.

At the time of the monumental Lucasfilm sale—also including his company’s Industrial Light & Magic and the rights to Indiana Jones—Lucas compared parting with Star Wars to losing a family member. 

‘These are my kids, I loved them. I created them,’ he told CBS at the time. 

Introduced as Obi-Wan Kenobi’s former mentor, he trains Luke Skywalker in the Force; Yoda is seen with Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace from 1999

Though Yoda died in 1983’s Return Of The Jedi, Grogu, often referred to colloquially as ‘Baby Yoda’, is a central character in The Mandalorian, and belongs to the same mysterious species

However, after selling the Star Wars rights to Disney, Lucas didn’t hold back in expressing his dissatisfaction with The Force Awakens, the first film in the franchise following the sale.

In a 2015 interview with Empire Magazine, Lucas admitted he wasn’t happy with the film, stating that Disney ‘wanted to make a retro movie’ and didn’t follow his planned direction for the series.

He also mentioned that he felt the film was too similar to the original trilogy, saying, ‘They wanted to make a movie for the fans… They decided they didn’t want to use the stories I created.’

He did somewhat backtrack on his initial criticism of The Force Awakens after the film’s release.

In later interviews, he acknowledged that while he had concerns about the direction of the film, he ultimately appreciated the work done by J.J. Abrams and the team at Disney.

He even praised the film’s luck, regardless that he nonetheless expressed that it wasn’t reasonably what he would have finished.