Why Yoda Talks Backwards George Lucas Explains

Revealed, it finally is: George Lucas has explained why Yoda talks backwards.

Yoda, the withered Jedi master who teaches Luke Skywalker the ways of the Force in 1980's Star Wars: Episode IV — The Empire Strikes Back, provides a bounty of endlessly quoted wisdom, including when he tells Luke (Mark Hamill): "When 900 years old, you reach, look as good you will not."

After all this time, look good Empire still does, and Lucas revisited the film this past weekend at a 45th anniversary screening of The Empire Strikes Back on the opening night of the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival.

Lucas spent the first 20 minutes of the interview sharing memories and lessons from his early career. But after 20 minutes, interviewer Ben Mankiewicz joked that "I gotta get one straight, full-on Empire question in, or I'm gonna lose my job."

So he shot his shot: "Why does Yoda speak backwards?"

"Well, I will tell you," Lucas replied. And provided, along the way, a lesson in how to hold an audience's attention.

Why Yoda Talks Backwards, According to George Lucas

"Yoda had a very distinctive way of talking because — and it was done purposely — because if you were speaking regular English... people don't listen that much. But if he has an accent, or it's really hard to understand what he's saying, they focus on what he was saying," Lucas said.

"And he was basically the philosopher of the movie. So he was talking about all the things in long talking scenes and stuff where I had to figure out a way to get people actually to listen — especially 12 year olds," Lucas added.

Also Read: All 11 Star Wars Movies Ranked, From Worst to Best

"So you were worried that if he just said it regularly, it would be boring and kids wouldn't listen?" Mankiewicz asked the master.

"That's right," said Lucas.

"So you thought, I'll just switch some words around."

"You're hired," joked Lucas.

In addition to finally explaining why Yoda talks backwards, Lucas also offered some general advice about screenwriting he said he first learned from Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola, a longtime friend and collaborator with whom he founded the film company American Zoetrope in 1969.

"He said, 'Look, the first draft is going to be horrible. You're going to want to commit suicide. Second draft will also be bad. But the secret to doing a good script is to rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Don't stop and say this is good enough, because there's nothing that is good enough," Lucas recalled.

You can watch the TCM Classic Film Festival interview with George Lucas here:

Yoda vs. Lando

The Empire Strikes Back debuted three previously unseen characters: Yoda, Lando Calrissian, and, briefly, The Emperor. Despite a game attempt by Mankiewicz, Lucas declined to say whether he prefers Lando or Yoda.

But audiences have embraced Yoda like few other characters in pop culture. And when Disney+'s The Mandalorian introduced another member of his species — Baby Yoda, aka Grogu — merchandising once again flew off the shelves as audiences of all ages fell for the cooing, egg-eating, incredibly powerful young Jedi-powered green creature — even though he doesn't talk, either backwards or forwards.

He will be one of the stars of Disney's next planned Star Wars film, The Mandalorian and Grogu, scheduled for release in 2026.

George Lucas sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney in 2012 for just over $4 billion, ceding control of a galaxy he first launched in 1977 with the unexpected success of the original Star Wars. When it spawned its first sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas retroactively gave Star Wars the new name Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope.

Lucas subsequently made three prequels, starting with 1999's Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, and Disney made three sequels to the original trilogy, starting with Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens, in 2017.

2025 has already been an excellent year for Star Wars nostalgia: The British Film Institute announced earlier this month that its Film on Film Festival in June will include a screening of an original print of the 1977 Star Wars that has not been seen in decades.

Main image: Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker and Yoda, voiced by Frank Oz, in a publicity still for The Empire Strikes Back. Lucasfilm.