What is going on with Laura Dern and Baby Yoda? An EW investigation

Since Baby Yoda’s arrival in our lives, the internet has bowed down to our new king. The cutest 50-year-old out there has warmed our cold hearts and birthed countless memes and appreciation posts. And while the scariest Baby Yoda content came courtesy of Guy Fieri, the strangest, funniest, and most curious reaction-turned-running bit has come from our queen, Laura Dern.

The Star Wars: The Last Jedi star was recently asked by Variety if she had seen Baby Yoda. “Yes, I did, just today,” Dern responded. Oh, so she surely finally logged on to Disney+ for an episode of The Mandalorian, right? Not quite. “I think he was at a basketball game,” she mysteriously declared with a straight face. “That’s all I’m going to say. I think I saw him at a basketball game…it was NBA.”

Honestly, in a year in which Dern has starred in Big Little Lies, Marriage Story, and Little Women, that might have been her best performance. Or was it a performance? The Emmy winner has continued to suggest that Baby Yoda is essentially the new Jack Nicholson.

First, there was this Instagram post:

Then, there was this on Wednesday night when she herself was at an NBA game in Boston:

So this begs the question: What the hell does Dern know about Baby Yoda that we don’t? As I previously mentioned, she’s got the Star Wars connection, having played Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo in Episode VIII, which coincidentally or not also featured an appearance by Old Man Yoda. Could he have tipped her off to the whereabouts of the being that Mando has been sworn to protect? Possibly. But, also, how is Baby Yoda so quickly making a cross country trip to see a game in Los Angeles on Monday and then a game in Boston on Wednesday? That space bassinet can’t be moving that fast.

I could go on, as I have approximately a million more questions (including: was he at the Celtics game because he heard Glen “Big Baby” Davis used to play for them?), but, after completing my latest EW investigation, I’ve come up with two possible conclusions.

Theory No. 1: Dern has never actually seen The Mandalorian and just confused Baby Yoda for her Little Women costar Timothée Chalamet. I mean, the mixup is understandable since both Baby Yoda and Chalamet are basketball fans and have been referred to as a Beautiful Boy.

But, just as I solved the Rock playing the exact same person in every movie and the Marvel movie that Martin Scorsese hates the least, I’ve done it again here.

The Final Verdict

Dern is the Mandalorian. Think about it. Yes, allegedly Pedro Pascal is underneath that mask, but we have no proof of that other than hearing his voice. Hello, have none of you ever heard of a voice changer?! Like, James Earl Jones wasn’t in the Darth Vader outfit. I already discussed Dern’s involvement in the Star Wars Universe, and I know I was personally offended that we got so little of Dern in Last Jedi, so could this be Disney’s way of righting that wrong and giving us the Vice Admiral Holdo origin story?! Plus, have you seen Dern fight? The Empire doesn’t stand a chance.

To Laura Dern, I now say, come clean about your true connection to Baby Yoda.

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