Even though Yoda has gone from old-school puppet to CGI-created warrior, there's one thing about the character that has never changed over the course of six Star Wars films: Frank Oz. The man who used his voice to make Yoda's unmistakable-- not to mention creating voices for Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Cookie Monster and more-- is as much a key part of the character as the green ears, and though there's nothing precisely in the works yet, Oz is committed to sticking with Yoda as long as possible.
"He is in my heart. I know Yoda very deeply," Oz told The Los Angeles Times, while admitting that he hasn't heard a thing about the rumored Yoda spinoff, or any other future Star Wars film. Though Oz is a lifelong puppeteer-- his parents were even puppeteers, as well as Nazi fighters (!)-- he was also realistic enough to admit that a human-controlled Yoda puppet is probably not going to be making a comeback:
I think at this point you can’t go back to the puppet. The reason George [Lucas] did the CGI, which I supported, was that he wanted to tell a story that would have been hampered by the physical limitations of the puppet.”
If you've already lost track in the rush of Star Wars rumors we've dealt with this week, Yoda is just one of the characters rumored to be set for a spinoff, along with Han Solo and Boba Fett. Disney CEO Bob Iger has confirmed the spinoffs are happening, with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg working on the script, but any other firm details are impossible to come by-- and given how early everything is, probably don't exist.
