After months of speculation by fans, the rumours that Yoda would return in The Last Jedi were true.
The green alien, who died in Return of the Jedi and became a Force ghost could be heard in The Force Awakens, but in its follow-up he turned up in his very own ghostly flesh.
Confirming he was a puppet in the style of the original trilogy, Johnson has explained why the 900-year-old Jedi came back.
Speaking to Variety, he said: “It really was [a puppet]. I realised Yoda would have a natural place in this.”
Johnson continued: “Given Luke’s story, it makes sense that his old master would come back and kick his butt, to get him back into the fight.
“That led to the fact that the Yoda whom Luke has an emotional connection with, was in the original trilogy.
“That’s the last time they saw each other. That led me to say ‘Let’s re-create the puppet from the original trilogy.’
“Neil [Scanlan, the creature supervisor] and his team found the original mold and meticulously re-created the puppet.”
He added: “Then Frank Oz came back and puppeteered it, from a hole underneath the set, and doing the voice. It was just like we were back in the early ’80s.
“Frank did some puppet work in the prequels. But the last time he did it with a Yoda puppet was Return of the Jedi.”