Ahmed Best comments on rumors Jar Jar Binks might appear in Obi-Wan series

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Rumours emerged back in January that the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series being developed for Disney+ might just feature a guest-star from the STAR WARS Prequel Trilogy — Jar Jar Binks, the Gungan misfit who assisted Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) in THE PHANTOM MENACE. It was said that Jar Jar and Kenobi would share a scene which would "delve into the aftermath of the prequels and what Jar Jar went through and Obi-Wan went through, and they're going to talk about what happened when they were deceived by the great lie." Not only that, but Jar Jar would reportedly be sporting a beard.

At the time, it wasn't known whether or not Ahmed Best, who performed and voiced Jar Jar Binks throughout the STAR WARS prequel trilogy as well as the Clone Wars TV series, would return to play the role, but in a recent interview with Jamie Stangroom, the actor commented on the rumours. When asked whether there was any truth to the claims, Best said, "Not as far I know, no." That said, Best doesn't believe that Lucasfilm would necessarily need him back to play Jar Jar Binks.

The thing about what I did as Jar Jar as motion-capture, you know, Lucasfilm still has all that data, so they could put him in whatever they want to put him in, and it will move like me, they don't actually need me for that. But if there was a rumour that I would be Jar Jar in Obi-Wan, then there's no truth to that, I haven't been asked. I just don't know, to be completely honest I think Jar Jar is something that Lucasfilm is trying to move away from, I'm not going to hold my breath for a Jar Jar cameo in Obi-Wan, but you know, who knows.

Ahmed Best did say that he would love to work with Ewan McGregor again (as well as sport a massive Paul Bunyan-style beard) and would definitely be down to play a tragic version of Jar Jar Binks. However, just because Best hadn't heard anything from Lucasfilm regarding Jar Jar Binks doesn't mean that it wasn't in consideration at some point. Since that rumour came out, it was announced that Joby Harold (KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD) had been tapped to pen the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, replacing previous writer Hossein Amini (The Alienist), so it remains to be seen just how these rewrites will change the previous story.