It was only very recently that the Star Wars fandom found itself becoming increasingly convinced Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn was on his way back to the live-action arm of the franchise, with the first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi repeatedly nodding towards the title hero’s fallen master.
Of course, it would be an understatement to say Neeson has been non-committal when asked the question over the years, largely because it’s one that comes up every time he’s on the press circuit for his latest action thriller. At various points he’s effectively said yes, no, and maybe to a comeback, but his return was finally confirmed at yesterday’s Star Wars Celebration.
The downside is that he wasn’t unveiled as a surprise guest in a future installment of Obi-Wan Kenobi, but as a surprise star on animated anthology series Tales of the Jedi, and only for a single episode. While the news has been received well in some quarters, there’s a lot of Star Wars enthusiasts left a little disappointed that Neeson’s long-awaited return to a galaxy far, far away will be coming as part of a standalone short.
That doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to show up in Obi-Wan Kenobi, though, but it’s become a lot more likely now that Neeson has been welcomed back into the Star Wars fold. However, should the worst case scenario unfold and there’s no sign of Qui-Gon by the time the latest Disney Plus series rides off into the sunset, we’ll at least be able to sleep safe in the knowledge Tales of the Jedi premieres this fall.