Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar Binks in “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” has a theory about why the recent sequel trilogy didn’t do so well.
What’s going on:
- Best recently spoke with interviewer Jamie Stangroom about the “Star Wars” franchise, including why he would decide to return to the “Star Wars” universe and rumors about his character.
- Best said the sequel trilogy lacked a certain George Lucas touch, which is why it didn’t perform well among fans.
Here’s what he told Stangroom:
One of the reasons I said yes to this show was that kids have always lifted me up. They’ve always given me the feedback and the positivity that I always looked for. When I was Jar Jar, I would always get great responses from children and I really wanted to, not just continue that, but give back to the kids. I wanted to give them something else, because Star Wars has since skewed older and there isn’t very much for the kids anymore in Star Wars. It’s very much for the millennials and gen-Xers like myself continuing the first series — 4, 5, 6. So kids are kind of left out of these, and the kids have to go to the animated series — ‘Clone Wars,’ ‘Rebels’ and so forth — in order to get their dose of Star Wars, or they do like ‘Phantom Menace. ‘Phantom Menace’ is very much a kids movie. The new iterations of Star Wars are not really skewed towards kids, which is not something that George ever really wanted to do. George was always about the kids, and he would always say that if you get the kids, you have fans for the next 20 years. He was very much about kids. This idea that the movies are for adults is a very new thing, to be honest.
Best to host Disney Plus show
- In December 2019, Star Wars and Lucasfilm announced Best would play the host of the Disney Plus show “Jedi Temple Challenge,” which is a trivia game show centered around “Star Wars.”
Best opened up about Jar Jar backlash in 2018
- Best said in a tweet back in 2018 that he experienced so much backlash from playing Jar Jar that he considered committing suicide, as I wrote for the Deseret News.
- “20 years next year I faced a media backlash that still affects my career today,” he recently tweeted. “This was the place I almost ended my life. It’s still hard to talk about. I survived and now this little guy (Best’s son) is my gift for survival.”
20 years next year I faced a media backlash that still affects my career today. This was the place I almost ended my life. It’s still hard to talk about. I survived and now this little guy is my gift for survival. Would this be a good story for my solo show? Lemme know. pic.twitter.com/NvVnImoJ7N
— Ahmed BEst (@ahmedbest) July 3, 2018
- Best thanked fans for their support at the time, too.
- He tweeted: “Thank you all for your love and kindness. Its been overwhelming. I’m gonna start writing this show. Gonna need help cause I’ve never done this before. I will be trying stuff out and posting it here. Let folks know. Thanks for all your support. It means so very much to me.”
Thank you all for your love and kindness. Its been overwhelming. I’m gonna start writing this show. Gonna need help cause I’ve never done this before. I will be trying stuff out and posting it here. Let folks know. Thanks for all your support. It means so very much to me.
— Ahmed BEst (@ahmedbest) July 4, 2018