Amy Richau, writing at StarWars.com, has spoken to Ahmed Best about returning to voice a dark version of Jar Jar as a Sith Master in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, “I wanted to do a dark version of Jar Jar, and then have these moments where it’s the Jar Jar you know and love. Which is this levity, this joy”.
Best remembers a sense of escape and accomplishment from building with LEGO bricks as a child and later the joy of putting together a set with his son. Best notes there’s a sense of community created by LEGO fans. “LEGO became this thing that you can do with the person that you love. There is so much camaraderie and community coming together when you start building LEGO first as a child with your friends or with your children as a parent,” Best says. “Star Wars is kind of the same thing. We all watched it as kids, we all found our favorite characters, and then we all played as those characters. It was this wonderful way to excite your imagination and be a part of a universe that you love and then create your own world around it.”
“Meesa tinken yousa people ganna die.”
Best relished the opportunity to bring an alternative version of Jar Jar Binks to the screen. Having played the light-hearted Gungan in the Star Wars prequel films, Best was well aware of the Darth Jar Jar internet creation — and was all for it. “The Darth Jar Jar theory has been out there for a very long time,” notes Best, “and it’s a theory I really liked. It was something I’ve always kind of wanted to explore in one way, shape, or form.”
While recording, Best wanted to do a darker version of his Jar Jar voice, coupled with moments that sound more like the classic Gungan. A fan of Star Wars reveals, Best pointed to the Darth Jar Jar stepping off the Dark Falcon (a re-imagined Millennium Falcon) as one of his favorite moments in the series.
Expanding the Star Wars universe by embracing inverted versions of characters is just one of the ways the series creates a love letter to both the Star Wars and LEGO universes. “Star Wars has always been about the fantasy of the galaxy far, far away,” says Best. “So I really love the combination of those two ideas of the Star Wars galaxy and these building blocks as a way to reimagine your idea of what Star Wars is.”
All four pieces of LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild The Galaxy are available now on Disney+.
