Jar Jar Binks Actor Returns to The Mandalorian as a Jedi

Picture Supply: Getty / Daniel Boczarski

The latest episode of “The Mandalorian” season three, launched on March 22, exhibits, for the primary time, how a padawan Child Yoda — aka Grogu — escaped the Jedi temple throughout the “Revenge of the Sith” period. That is when Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and the clones adopted Order 66 and attacked all Jedi and the younglings. Viewers — and Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) — first discovered that Grogu had been current on the temple that day throughout season two, however episode 4 of the third season exhibits by means of Grogu’s eyes how that terrifying day went. He was saved by one Jedi particularly and that character is performed by the identical actor who additionally starred as Jar Jar Binks within the prequels! This is the way it went down.

Which Jedi Saved Grogu From the Jedi Temple?

As we see in a flashback, Grogu was rescued by the Jedi Kelleran Beq. The episode marks the character’s first look in a Star Wars story, however his first onscreen look was really because the host of the Star Wars Children digital sport present “Star Wars: Jedi Temple Problem.” The ten-episode YouTube series, launched in 2020, featured groups of two youngsters competing in Jedi-themed challenges.

Although Kelleran’s look in that present wasn’t technically a Star Wars story, it did give us some background information on Jedi Grasp Kelleran. His nickname is the Sabered Hand and he beforehand served on the starship Athylia. In “Jedi Temple Problem,” he makes use of a purple lightsaber as a tribute to Mace Windu, performed by Samuel L. Jackson within the prequels, the primary Black individual to painting a Jedi. Nevertheless, Kelleran doesn’t have a purple lightsaber in “The Mandalorian.”

Who Performs Jedi Kelleran Beq in “The Mandalorian”?

Kelleran Beq — in each “Jedi Temple Problem” and “The Mandalorian” — is performed by Ahmed Finest, who first joined the Star Wars universe in 1999’s “The Phantom Menace” as Jar Jar Binks, an alien who’s maybe essentially the most controversial Star Wars character of all time. Jar Jar was primarily added for comedian reduction, which followers and critics tended to seek out ridiculous, if not offensive. Nevertheless, over time the character turned basic due to how ridiculous he’s, with many followers developing with theories that Jar Jar was really the last word villain behind the fear within the galaxy.

Picture Supply: Everett Collection

And whereas some derided that Jar Jar was simply “for teenagers,” Finest has stated he is really very happy with that reality. In a 2020 interview with Star Wars Insider, he defined, “Children at all times gave me the positivity I regarded for once I was taking part in Jar Jar.” He added, “George Lucas was actually concerning the youngsters and ensuring they had been followers of the films. He would say that should you get the children, then you’ve gotten followers for the subsequent 20 years.”

Will Kelleran Beq return in one other collection? Effectively, we do not know what occurred to him after he rescued Grogu and the Empire got here to energy. In 2022’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi” collection, viewers discovered that Obi-Wan is not the one Jedi in hiding between the top of “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope,” so it is doable Beq might pop up throughout exhibits set throughout that point, like, as an illustration, season two of “Andor.”