Ahmed Best Teases His Side of the Jar Jar Binks Story
To say Jar Jar Binks is a controversial character within Star Wars fandom is putting it lightly, to say the least. Loved by some and derided by many, every Star Wars fan has an opinion on the famous Gungan one way or the other.
Ahmed Best, the man who played Jar Jar in the prequel trilogy, seems set to reignite the debate by teasing his version of the story for the first time:
I think it’s time for my version of how it all went down. #jarjarbinks #starwars #fandom #theprequels #onemanshow #mystory #darthjarjar pic.twitter.com/DDYJ4xgIw7
— Ahmed BEst (@ahmedbest) October 11, 2022
By “my version”, he presumably is talking about how he got cast in the role and other behind-the-scenes filming details, as he has already spoken about how the negative reaction to his performance affected him negatively over the years. Perhaps we’ll even gain some insight into some of those rumors about Jar Jar’s original role in the prequel trilogy.
For years, there have been rumors that George Lucas envisioned Jar Jar as the new “Yoda” of the prequel trilogy, a being who seemed goofy at first, but actually turned out to be extremely powerful in the Force and an important character. Supposedly, Lucas backtracked on this idea after the backlash the character received once The Phantom Menace premiered. That led to a vastly reduced role for the Gungan in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Perhaps this is the story that Best wants to shed some light on.
There was also a popular fan theory that took this rumor and gave a new spin on it by claiming that Jar Jar was actually a powerful Sith Lord manipulating everyone from behind the scenes in the prequel trilogy, which Best also appears to be referencing by including the #darthjarjar hashtag in his tweet. This might just be to make sure his post gets some traction though, considering how popular the idea is among some Star Wars fans.
It looks like Best — who also returned to the Star Wars universe in 2020 as Kelleran Beq in the Jedi Temple Challenge kids game show — is teasing that he is creating a one-man stage show as his chosen medium of storytelling with his photo of a script titled “Untitled One Man Show”, but let’s not rule out an autobiography of sorts or a revealing interview. It seemed his stint on Jedi Temple Challenge proved a cathartic experience for his relationship with Star Wars, so hopefully this is a somewhat positive story at least.
Either way, I’m looking forward to Ahmed Best saying his piece on Jar Jar Binks.
Josh is a huge Star Wars fan, who has spent far too much time wondering if any Star Wars character could defeat Thanos with all the Infinity Stones.
