20 pieces of trivia you need to know about Star Wars

Yoda could have won an Oscar

The role of Yoda was initially offered to Muppet aficionado Jim Henson, who was a good friend of George Lucas, but when it turned out he was busy working on 1981’s Great Muppet Caper, he recommended puppeteer Frank Oz to take on the part.

Fortunately, Lucas was so impressed by Oz’s performance as the wise green Jedi Master than he spent thousands of dollars on an to try and get him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

However, in a shocking oversight by an Academy which still refuses to recognize Andy Serkis’ considerable acting talents because he often wears a mo-cap suit to display them, it wasn’t felt that a puppeteer could be nominated in an acting category.

Oz’s influence on the character also extended to the character’s brief appearance in The Last Jedi, as it was Oz’s idea to reveal Yoda through silhouette. Also, after the horror that was flying CGI Yoda in the prequel trilogy, Johnson decided to go back to mechanical puppet Yoda, though Oz said he would have to be CGI if he were to have a larger part in a movie

“It would have to be [CGI], yeah,” Oz told IGN. “It would have to be. It’s far, far too difficult because I’m doing it with three other people. So it’s four people and you can’t just wing it. You’ve got to study every single word with four people.”

Whether or not we’ll get a Yoda standalone movie is still unknown, however, with his character being one of the most mysterious. We’re pretty sure we like it that way too.

Also, he was very nearly called Buffy. Let that one sink in.