Ahmed Best, who brought Jar Jar Binks to life in the prequels, has made a welcome return to Star Wars as Kelleran Beq in Chapter 20 of The Mandalorian, a character he first created for Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge.
Note: Beware of spoilers if you’ve not seen Chapter 20 of The Mandalorian.
On “Chapter 20: The Foundling,” Grogu had a flashback to Order 66 and the assault on the Jedi temple. In that flashback, we saw the former Padawan being saved and hurried from the temple by none other than Best. Best was playing a Jedi named Kelleran Beq, who found Grogu alone in an elevator during the attack and assured him everything would be alright before cutting down clone troopers with green and purple lightsabers and doing some fancy flying to escape pursuing ships.
It’s not the first time Best has played Beq, and it’s not the first Beq Best has played. The actor first portrayed Kelleran Beq as the host of a 2020 online children’s game show called Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge, in which teams of tykes would have to survive obstacle courses, test their knowledge in a quiz, and be tempted by the dark side.Best also had a cameo in Attack of the Clones as Achk Med-Beq, a startled patron of the Outlander Club on Coruscant with a not-so-thinly-veiled play on the actor’s name. Whether this Beq and friend Dannl Faytonno (C-3PO’s Anthony Daniels) were there to buy Death Sticks is anyone’s guess, but Best has said in the past that the two Beqs are indeed related.
Judging by the events of this week’s episode — in which Beq and Grogu blast out of Coruscant into hyperspace — there’s a good chance we’ll see Best return as Beq, especially if Grogu’s backstory is going to continue to be explored. And weesa excited to see more!
Watch the first four episodes from the third season of The Mandalorian on Disney+ now.
