George Lucas Explains Why Yoda Talks Backwards

The 80-year-old legendary filmmaker made a rare appearance at the opening night of the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival in Los Angeles to celebrate the 45th anniversary of “The Empire Strikes Back.”

During a conversation with TCM’s Ben Mankiewicz, George Lucas dropped a major bombshell about Yoda’s iconic speech pattern.

“Because if you speak regular English, people won’t listen that much,” Lucas revealed, per Variety. “But if he had an accent, or it’s really hard to understand what he’s saying, they focus on what he’s saying.”

Lucas explained that Yoda needed to stand out since he was “basically the philosopher of the movie,” adding, “I had to figure out a way to get people to actually listen, especially 12-year-olds.”

Safe to say, mission accomplished.

Since debuting in 1980, “The Empire Strikes Back” has earned over $550 million worldwide, and Yoda remains one of the most beloved and most quoted characters in the galaxy.

Yoda, the wise Jedi Master who trained Luke Skywalker, was famously voiced and puppeteered by Frank Oz in six “Star Wars” films. Lucas once described the character as a “little Dalai Lama,” and Oz’s work, along with the help of puppeteers like Kathryn Mullen, Wendy Froud, and David Barclay, brought Yoda’s distinct look and feel to life.

Since Yoda’s original run (and his death at age 900 in “Return of the Jedi”), the galaxy’s love for his species has continued through “The Mandalorian”’s Grogu, affectionately dubbed “Baby Yoda.”

Lucas also got real about his creative process, admitting, “I write like a blueprint. It’s not got a lot of detail on it.”

When he finished the original “Star Wars” script, it stretched 130 to 180 pages, which was way too long. So he chopped it into three parts, focusing on the first one, believing he’d never get enough money to make the whole epic saga.

Lucas famously agreed to a tiny paycheck, just $50,000, to write, direct, and produce “Star Wars,” but he negotiated two conditions that would change Hollywood forever: ownership of the sequels and the licensing rights.

“I said, ‘I want the rights for these things because I’m going to make those movies no matter what happens,’” Lucas said. “‘And besides that, I want the licensing.’ They said, ‘What’s licensing?’”

Lucas’ idea was to use merchandising to help promote the movies, with kids wearing “Star Wars” shirts that would help spread the word. He also hustled, sending kids dressed as characters to Disneyland and Comic-Cons to hype it up.

In 2012, Lucas sold Lucasfilm, and the rights to “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones,” to Disney for a staggering $4 billion. It was a decision he once compared to losing a family member.

“These are my kids, I loved them. I created them,” he told CBS at the time, per Daily Mail.

“I’ve spent my life creating ‘Star Wars,’ 40 years, and giving it up was very, very painful,” Lucas told another interviewer in 2020, per The Independent. “But it was the right thing to do. I thought I was going to have a little bit more to say about the next three [films] because I’d already started them, but they decided they wanted to do something else.”

Things “don’t always work out the way you want it. Life is like that,” he added.

But Lucas famously clashed with Disney after the sale, admitting he wasn’t thrilled with 2015’s “The Force Awakens.”

According to Daily Mail, in an interview with Empire Magazine, Lucas said Disney “wanted to make a retro movie” and chose not to follow his vision. “They wanted to make a movie for the fans… They decided they didn’t want to use the stories I created,” he explained.

Although he later softened his stance and praised the movie’s success, Lucas made it clear that while he respects what Disney has done, it wasn’t the “Star Wars” he would have made.

Still, George Lucas’ influence remains the heartbeat of the galaxy far, far away, and thanks to him, characters like Yoda will be schooling fans for generations to come.

“Much to learn, you still have,” indeed.