Star Wars actor Ahmed Best, who played Jar Jar Binks in Phantom Menace, will take on a different role in The Mandalorian… despite leaving the franchise.
Jar Jar Binks from 1999’s The Phantom Menace was one of the most reviled characters in Star Wars history.
But the actor who played him, Ahmed Best, 49, is returning to the franchise.
It was revealed on Wednesday that he had been cast in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian but in a completely different role than Jar Jar.
In Chapter 20: The Foundling, Best plays the Jedi Kelleran Beq during a Grogru flashback to Order 66.
And this isn’t the first time Best has played Beq, nor is he the only Beq he’s played.
The actor placed Kelleran in the online children’s game show called Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge in 2020 and had a cameo in 2002’s Attack of the Clones as Achk Med-Beq.
He’s back: Ahmed Best, 49, the actor who played the infamous CGI Gungan in 1999’s Phantom Menace is back… as a Jedi
Best is back despite saying several years ago on an episode of These Are The Actors You’re Looking For that nothing could bring him back.
I think I’ve done my damage. I’m fine with my position in the Star Wars universe,’ he revealed.
I would say not. I think I did what I did, I thought it was cool, it was fun, but now it’s time to move on.
He said he was initially very surprised by all the hate directed at the clumsy Gungan when he became known as part of the Star Wars universe in 1999, and couldn’t help but take it personally.
“Even though you play characters, you bring a lot of your own personality, you’re emotionally and personally invested in the work that you do, it’s your job and you take pride in it,” he said. “So when your work is criticized negatively, you feel beaten up.”
He suggested that amid all the vitriol, Jar Jar was denied credit for pioneering the more popular CGI characters that followed him.
‘No’ put me off Star Wars, but yes, it was painful. I mean, this character for me and one of the biggest reasons I took him was for the challenge: there was no Andy Serkis and Gollum, Navi from Avatar.
“I was going to be the template for this, so I was working with George to pioneer this new way of acting and character storytelling. On set we were all so focused on the challenge and having so much fun that the post-Star Wars material was a surprise.
A Jedi: In Chapter 20: The Foundling, Best plays the Jedi Kelleran Beq during a Grogru flashback to Order 66
Never say never: Best is back despite saying several years ago in an episode of These Are The Actors You’re Looking For that nothing could ever lure him back.
In fact, the Jar Jar Binks backlash was so bad for the New York-born actor that he contemplated suicide after playing the goofy Gungan.
“20 years the next year I faced a backlash from the media that still affects my career today,” the Stomp alum wrote in 2018.
‘This was the place where I almost ended my life. It’s still hard to talk about it.
Best thought he had found the role of a lifetime when George Lucas cast him as Naboo’s military and political commander, but ended up receiving “death threats.”
New Chapter: In fact, the Jar Jar Binks backlash was so bad for the New York-born actor that he contemplated suicide after playing the goofy Gungan, but fatherhood of his son Marley got him going again.
Widely considered one of the most irritating and hated characters in the Star Wars franchise, critics compared Jar Jar Binks to a blackface minstrel or the ‘Rastafarian Stepin Fetchit’.
Fans watched the role of the orange, slug-eyed creature shrink from a prominent spot in Episode I: The Phantom Menace to just a one-liner cameo in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
Best credited fatherhood with lifting his spirits after his career woes. He has a son, Marley.
“I survived and now this little guy is my gift to survive,” Best said.
The little one: Here is baby Yoda -whose real name is Grogu- with his protector