The Mandalorian: Ahmed Best Says ‘Coming Back to Star Wars Wasn’t an Easy Decision’ Due to Jar Jar Experience
Ahmed Best had to think long and hard about guest-starring in the latest episode of Disney+’s The Mandalorian, due to the “rollercoaster ride of emotions” he endured as the prequel film trilogy’s Jar Jar Binks.
A floppy-eared Gungan introduced in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace, Jar Jar was met with some backlash — either framed as a blatant ploy by Lucasfilm to cater to kiddies, or criticized as a “Rastafarian Stepin Fetchit on platform hoofs” (as the Wall Street Journal put it back in the day). Regardless of the accuracy of such attacks, “Because of the backlash, and rightfully so, Lucasfilm backed off of Jar Jar” in subsequent films, Best once shared.
Having navigated that difficult time — and going into it as a huge Star Wars fan, no less — Best told StarWars.com that when The Mandalorian came calling with the role of Kelleran Beq, a Jedi who rescued Grogu from the Order 66 assault, “Honestly, I had to think about it.”
“I’ve been in the Star Wars world for such a long time and my story is such a rollercoaster ride of emotions,” he shared. “So coming back to Star Wars wasn’t an easy decision for me. It wasn’t something I could have immediately said yes to. I did have to marinate over it for a bit.”
Some of that deliberation stemmed from Best wanting to protect The Mandalorian.
“I really want Star Wars to deliver, and if I become an obstacle to that, then I shouldn’t be in it. I don’t want to be bigger than the story,” he said. “I want to contribute, I want to add to it. So it took me a minute,” before executive producers Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni “made me want to come back.”
Best first portrayed Kellern Beq as the host of a Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge, an online quiz show aimed at kids. So, “to see that then migrate over to The Mandalorian is really super special,” he said.
Especially since Beq served such a heroic role, as the answer to the question: “How did Grogu survive Order 66, which we know he laid witness to?”
“I know this might not be cool to say, but I want everyone who watches Star Wars to look at Kelleran Beq and go, ‘I believe that guy. I want to follow that guy. Where does he go? What happens next?’” said Best. “I think all the best stories are stories that leave you wondering what happens next.”
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I love redemption stories. And Ahmed nailed it on the Mandalorian!
This wasn’t a redemption story. Ahmed had nothing to make up for. The fans who butchered for those years owe him atonement for being such pieces of crap to him.
Jar Jar Binks was the worst.
Let me clarify…Ahmed showing toxic fans that Jar Jar doesn’t define him! That’s the redemption. Don’t always assume what people are trying to say. Also that is not me below. Nice trolling. I’m honored other Burnout. I always wanted my own troll.
It wasn’t his fault that Jar Jar was awful – I blame that 1000% on George Lucas – glad he got another chance in the Star Wars universe – without all the CGI :-) Thank you Dave Filioni & Co for giving him a chance to shine and receive the fandom’s love
The attacks on JarJar were extreme and a bit ridiculous. It’s really a good example of online extremism, which is even worse today due to social media whipping people into a frenzy. Not the best character to hit the big screen, but certainly not the worst.
JarJar was a horrendous character for many reasons and the movie came out while the internet was still growing.
No, the attacks on the character were entirely deserved. Any attacks on the actor were not.
A lot of Star Wars fan have realized that they were unfair to Best over the years. Jar Jar may not have been the best character ever, but that was not Best’s fault.
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Glad to see Best getting a chance to shine.
Not shocked to hear this at all. He has straight up said all the backlash nearly pushed him to the point of suicide, it would make total sense for him to not want to come back to that.
I was thrilled to see him! I’m so glad he came back. I hated all the backlack he got over the years.
Me hopes he never uses that Jar Jar voice again
Mesa.😉
I’m very glad he did it.
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He deserved to make some good Star Wars memories. The “fan” treatment of him over Jar-Jar was terrible.
Little kids – who Jar Jar was made for – had zero problems with him! It’s the adults who had to be jerks – including bullying younger fans who started Star Wars with the Prequels. Those kids were told they were having wrong fun and driven out of participating.
Jar jar would have been a nice addition for kids IF the character had much less screen time in pm, big mistake to put him front and center in the movie but definitely not the actors fault and those bullys should be ashamed of their behavior.
There was no such bullying. It was always the character people disliked not the actor playing the part. As always people jump to a conclusion based on nothing other than colour when someone has negative comments. It is worth pointing out it others that jump to that conclusion, not the person(s) saying negative things.
Jar Jar Binks would’ve been a legendary amazing character if Lucas didn’t chicken out of the Sith Lord reveal. All the fan hate would’ve flipped 180 imo
I understand that. However it was never about him as a actor, but about the character, which was down to the studio.
The character he played last week was OK and hopefully not the last we see of him.
I guess we do know that ultimately the character is not around by the time Mandalore is set (Or do we?)
Jedi Temple Challenge was actually a pretty awesome kids show.