The Mandalorian Almost Appeared In Star Wars Day Simpsons Short

As everyone knows by now, Disney produced a surprise The Simpsons short featuring Maggie for Star Wars Day this year. Titled "The Force Awakens from Its Nap," the short hit Disney+ on May 4 and, according to Entertainment Weekly, very nearly had a Mandalorian cameo.

In a recent interview, The Simpsons executive producer Al Jean revealed that the animators were toying with a Mandalorian cameo, but ultimately decided it would detract from the story. "There was a scene where we had the parents picking up the kids, and the Mandalorian was one of them," Jean said. "What happened was once we hit on it as a story between Maggie and BB-8, we just eliminated everything that wasn't pertinent to that story."

According to the short's official description, "In a daycare far, far away… but still in Springfield, Maggie is on an epic quest for her stolen pacifier." The short, which celebrates the Star Wars galaxy, takes that seemingly straightforward plot and uses it to bring the baby Simpson "face-to-face with young Padawans, Sith Lords, familiar droids, Rebel scum, and an ultimate battle against the dark side."

While The Simpsons and Star Wars are both owned by Disney, Jean shared there was a lot of freedom they had to play around with the universe's characters, but they had to be faithful to Baby Yoda's character. The closest they could get, said Jean, was Disney allowing "us [to] do a little tribute to him but not a big reference, which I think is great… he [was] the most popular character created anywhere in fiction in the last year, and you don't want to overexpose him."

May 4 also marked the premiere of the newest Star Wars animated show, The Bad Batch. Additionally, new specials called Star Wars Biomes and Star Wars Vehicle Flythroughs debuted on Disney+ to celebrate the Star Wars holiday.