The “Star Wars” universe got a blast from the past during Wednesday’s episode of “The Mandalorian,” and fans are saying “Meesa like it!”
Ahmed Best, the actor who played the polarizing character Jar Jar Binks in the “Star Wars” prequel films, made a surprise cameo on the Disney+ series nearly 20 years after his final appearance in the trilogy. Rather than reprise his role as the Gungan whom an especially vocal majority of the “Star Wars” fandom loved to hate, Best this time portrayed a Jedi named Kelleran Beq.
In the episode titled “Chapter 20: The Foundling,” Best makes his appearance in a flashback to Order 66, when clone troopers betrayed the Jedi and went on a murderous rampage.
Best’s Jedi knight saves a youngling Grogu and cuts down clone troopers with his lightsaber so the two can escape into hyperspace, leaving open the possibility that Beq may be seen again on “The Mandalorian.”
The actor’s triumphant return to the “Stars Wars” galaxy may bring some much-needed balance to the Force after the intense backlash he faced over the Jar Jar Binks character landed him in a deep depression. (The Times’ Kenneth Turan called Binks “a major miscue, a comic-relief character who’s frankly not funny.”)
“It hit me. It came right for me. I was called every racial stereotype you can imagine. . . It was debilitating. I didn’t know how to respond,” Best said in a 2019 interview. “The depression hit me. Hard. I was just broken.”
On Twitter, fans were rejoicing over Best’s return.
“Ahmed Best was bullied by toxic fanboys to the point of contemplating suicide for his portrayal of Jar Jar Binks,” one user tweeted. “Twenty years later and he’s now the Jedi Knight who saves Grogu from Order 66. You love to see it.”
The Star Wars Academy weighed in, tweeting, “In 1999, Ahmed Best appeared in his first major screen role as a character named Jar Jar Binks. In 2023, Ahmed Best appeared as Jedi Master Kelleran Beq, who saves the youngling Grogu from Order 66. If that doesn’t warm your heart then I don’t know what will!”
“#TheMandalorian just redeemed Jar Jar Binks actor in the best way possible by honouring the him with the most heroic role going as the Jedi that saved Grogu during Order 66. Amazing!,” another user wrote.
Best also posted a selfie Tuesday on Instagram thanking fans for the support.
“Gratitude! Good to be back,” he wrote. “There is so much to say and share. It’s going to take a couple of days. But, for now, I’ll just say thank you to all that have held me up and made me better. “