Star Wars Will Finally Reveal More About its Most Mysterious Jedi
Beq to the future.
When The Mandalorian Season 3 hit Disney+, one of the show’s biggest mysteries was finally solved. We knew that Grogu, aka Baby Yoda, was raised in the Jedi Temple but somehow survived the murderous Order 66 genocide. What we didn’t know was how he escaped and who rescued him, as he was even more of a helpless baby back then.
In Episode 4, we learned it was Kelleran Beq who ushered Grogu from the Temple to safety on Naboo. Beq is played by Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best, and he’s also the in-character host of the Star Wars Kids competition series, Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge. Now, Best will reappear in a new Star Wars project that could give us more information about this crucial but mysterious Jedi.
On Instagram, Best posted an image of himself decked out in motion capture gear, with hashtags identifying Jar Jar, Kelleran, and Activision. Just what is this new Star Wars project? The key is the Activision hashtag. Activision, the video game publisher that previously released classic Star Wars games like Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, isn’t currently attached to produce any Star Wars games. Assuming Best’s tagging is accurate, this could reveal a new era of Star Wars gaming.
Is Best performing as Kelleran Beq or Jar Jar Binks (or both?) in this mysterious new game?
Star Wars currently has an exclusivity deal with EA Games, which most notably published Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor, two video games that used the motion capture Best is equipped with. But that deal expires in April, which suggests something big may be brewing at Activision.
If this game is set around the same time as Fallen Order and Survivor, during the height of the Empire, then Kelleran Beq is the most likely character to appear. As one of the few Jedi entirely focused on teaching and raising younglings, he’s a fascinating hero, but one we know little about. In a world where all of the Jedi have been eradicated, he would definitely be seeking out Force-sensitive children to protect from the Empire.
But this project could also mean the return of prequel poster child (and laughingstock) Jar Jar Binks. Motion capture would be the perfect way to bring Best’s unique physicality in the role to life, but it would be a big risk to include such a divisive character, regardless of what the game was about.
While it’s great to see Best returning to Star Wars, this development only raises more questions than it answers. Maybe this game will break bold new ground by giving us more information about Kelleran Beq, and using Jar Jar in a way that’s far less annoying.
