Star Wars icon Yoda was originally meant to look very different… and you won’t believe the original design
Everyone's favourite alien was nearly a miniature Father Christmas, according to the bizarre painting by a concept artist
THE Star Wars series brought many iconic characters onto the big screen, but few were as memorable as Yoda.
The green Jedi Master is one of the series' best-known aliens, but he nearly looked very different indeed.
Digital Spy reported that the 900-year-old Jedi looked more like a "garden gnome" in an early sketch of the character, which is on display at The O2's Star Wars Identities exhibition.
It's certainly fair to say that the concept art is a far cry from the little green creature fans of the series have grown to love.
In fact, everyone's favourite backwards-talking alien was nearly a miniature Father Christmas, according to the bizarre painting by concept artist Ralph McQuarrie.
The late designer's Yoda was completely overhauled, with the pointy ears, white hair and tiny size the only features to make it into the final design.
Digital spy also reports that there were more surprising revelations about how iconic characters were meant to look, including the concept for Luke Sykwalker starting off as a girl.
And just when things couldn't get any weirder, it turns out that the evil Emperor was almost a woman too.
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And if that's not enough, we also revealed how Ewan McGregor's character Obi Wan Kenobi could end up with TWO spin-off films.