A couple of months back, actor Liam Neeson said he was open to returning to the role of Qui-Gon Jinn, which he played years ago in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, under one condition: he wanted to appear in a movie, not a TV show. “I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to TV, I must admit, I just like the big screen, you know?”
It was at that moment that I became absolutely certain that Neeson would return as Qui-Gon in the Star Wars Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, which aired its finale earlier this week. And sure enough, he turned up at the very end as a Force Ghost, capping off the series by having a talk with his old pupil Obi-Wan.
Technically, Neeson has featured in a couple of Star Wars projects since The Phantom Menace, lending his voice to the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and appearing as a disembodied voice in The Rise of Skywalker. But this was the first time the actor had returned in the flesh…so to speak. What convinced him to come back?
Liam Neeson wanted to show his respect for George Lucas by returning to play Qui-Gon Jinn
“I certainly didn’t want anyone else playing Qui-Gon Jinn, and I wanted to show my respect for George and that mythical world that he created,” Neeson told The Hollywood Reporter. “Plus, Ewan is a pal, and I loved working with him during The Phantom Menace 25 years ago.”
Fair enough, although it’s interesting that Neeson would honor George Lucas by returning to the series years after Lucas sold it to Disney.
Does this mean that Neeson could appear as Qui-Gon in other Star Wars projects, either on the big or little screens? Considering the sheer number of Star Wars things Disney is working on, I’d be more surprised if he didn’t:
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h/t The A.V. Club