Gremlins director Joe Dante doesn’t mince words when it comes to what he sees as similarities between his franchise’s cuddly Gizmo and the Baby Yoda character at the heart of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian.
Dante told the San Francisco Chronicle during a recent interview that he attributes the continued fondness of fans for his 1984 cult favorite Gremlins and the sequel from 1990 Gremlins 2: The New Batch to the lovable Mogwai named Gizmo, voiced in Howie Mandel’s films.
“I think the longevity of [the films] is really the key to this one character [Gizmo], which is essentially like a baby,” Dante told the publication in a video chat. “That, of course, brings me to the subject of Baby Yoda, who is completely stolen and just copied through and through. Shameless, I would think.”
Representatives for The Mandalorian and series creator Jon Favreau did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Zach Galligan, who stars in Gremlins and its sequel, discussed the resemblance between the two characters in a Weekly entertainment interview in 2021. The actor admitted to having seen memes “poking fun at the resemblance” of the two characters, but he didn’t seem to have a problem with the appearance of Baby Yoda, aka Grogu.
“People have been bombarding me on social media with equations, scale drawings and all, coming up with all sorts of theories about whether or not there was a conscious decision behind it,” Galligan said. “All I can say is this: in many ways it’s really great because it’s always very useful in the media to have a foil. Which do you like better? Which was first? It’s just a different kind of story that you can use to increase people’s engagement.”
Gizmo will soon be featured in the upcoming HBO Max animated series Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai. Dante is an advisor to the project.