You may remember Yaddle best from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace; the same species as Yoda, she's a character who generated a lot of discussion among fans. Some of that was good, and some was bad, but we never got to see the Jedi Master again after the 1999 movie.
For years, we've wondered what became of her, and Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi has finally provided some answers. In the animated show, we learn Yaddle was killed by Count Dooku shortly after Qui-Gon Jinn's death (as a result of her discovering his alliance with Sith Lord Darth Sidious).
Talking to Nerdist, Tales of the Jedi showrunner Dave Filoni addressed Yaddle's brutal demise.
"Yaddle’s compassionate. Yaddle, up to the very end, is trying to give Dooku an out," he explains. "She’s attempting to give him a way to just say, ‘I’m sorry.' But there’s two sides of it there where she’s saying, ‘None of that matters. Just come with me now, and you can right this terrible wrong you’re about to do.’ And Sidious is like, ‘You can’t trust her. You know you can’t trust her. You came to me because you couldn’t trust them.'"
"Yaddle has a great heart and she perseveres," Filoni continued. "And for a moment when she lifts the door, Dooku looks at her, and he sees the truth - the truth of what a powerful, good, benevolent person she is."
Jurassic World star Bryce Dallas Howard lends her voice to Yaddle in Tales of the Jedi, and she's no stranger to Star Wars after directing episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. For Filoni, there was no one better to bring this Jedi to life than the actress and filmmaker.
"Bryce is a big fan of what we’ve done in animation over the years. I’d love to get her to direct something in animation," he enthuses. "She loves Star Wars, she knows the world well. I started working on these, and I thought, ‘Hey, you should do the voice of Yaddle. It’d be really fun. It’s not like a massive commitment, obviously, because I’ve got to kill her."
Now, we're sure you're wondering why Yaddle doesn't talk like Yoda, and Filoni offered an explanation, of sorts. "Does she speak backwards? I’m like, ‘No, I don’t think so. I think that’s a Yoda thing.' Frank Oz told me once that Yoda speaks that way specifically in honor of his own master. That was what he had thought about it."
So, the whole talking backwards thing is exclusive to Yoda (and potentially his Master). That is interesting, and something we hope will be further explored in future stories.
All six episodes of Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi are now streaming on Disney+.