Yoda present in work Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi
Concept and creation
Franchise creator George Lucas originally planned to have Obi-Wan Kenobi continue training Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strikes Back (1980), but decided that it would not make sense to have him standing around watching Luke do all the fighting in the films and not help him (in addition to health problems of his portrayer, Alec Guinness), so he killed him off in the first film. He then created a new character, Yoda, to have someone train Luke, who was explained to have mentored Obi-Wan and was based on early, more alien ideas for that character.With muppets (especially Kermit the Frog) in mind as a basis for Yodar, Lucas approached Jim Henson to perform him; Henson, being busy with other projects, instead recommended Frank Oz for the part.
According to the make-up artist Stuart Freeborn, Yoda's face is based on his own and Albert Einstein's (particularly the eye wrinkles of the latter). In early concepts of Yoda, as well as the novelization of The Empire Strikes Back, he had a blue-skinned face instead of a green one.  For The Phantom Menace, he was redesigned to look younger. He was created using computer-generated imagery (CGI) for two distant shots in the 1999 release but remained mostly a puppet, with Stuart Freeborn's original design reinterpreted by Nick Dudman.
Frank Oz provided Yoda's voice in each film and performed as lead puppeteer in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983), Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) and Episode VIII – The Last Jedi (2017). He also performed a vocal cameo as Yoda in Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019). For some walking scenes in The Empire Strikes Back and The Phantom Menace, dwarf actors Deep Roy and Warwick Davis appeared in costume as Yoda (though neither was credited). While Oz served as the primary performer, over the years he had been assisted by a multitude of other puppeteers, including: Kathryn Mullen (Ep. V), Wendy Froud (Ep. V), David Barclay (Ep. V–VI), Mike Quinn (Ep. VI), David Greenaway (Ep. I & VI), Don Austen (Ep. I), Kathy Smee (Ep. I), Dave Chapman (Ep. VIII), Damian Farrell (Ep. VIII), and Colin Purves (Ep. VIII). For the radio dramatizations of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Yoda was voiced by John Lithgow while Tom Kane voiced him in the Clone Wars animated series and several video games.
Rendered with computer animation in Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, Yoda appeared in ways not previously possible, including his participation in elaborate fight scenes. In Revenge of the Sith, his face appears in several big close-ups, demanding highly detailed CGI work. His digital incarnation, overseen by Rob Coleman, was deliberately designed to be consistent with the limitations of the puppet version, including the occasional ear-jiggling.Yoda was recreated in CGI for the 2011 Blu-ray release of The Phantom Menace. A clip of the new CG Yoda from The Phantom Menace was first seen in the featurette The Chosen One, included in the 2005 DVD release of Revenge of the Sith. The 2012 theatrical 3D release of The Phantom Menace matches the 2011 cut featuring the CG version of Yoda.
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