“Your focus determines your reality.” In the Star Wars franchise, that means returning to old characters, not creating new ones. Since The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. in 2012 for $4.05 billion, the Star Wars saga has returned to the characters fans knew and loved from the original 1970s films, leaving behind many of the fan favorites from the prequels directed by franchise-creator George Lucas (and yes, there are many, many fans of the prequels). This means that characters like the one played by Academy Award nominee Liam Neeson, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, have been left Sarlacc pit. However, Neeson would be interested in returning to the role, with a catch: “I just like the big screen.”
Neeson first played the role of Qui-Gon Jinn, the mentor of Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), in 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Qui-Gon is a powerful Jedi Master with controversial beliefs regarding the Force and the prophesied “Chosen One,” who has a hard time convincing the Jedi Council that a young Anakin Skywalker deserves to be a Padawan. Although Qui-Gon dies in The Phantom Menace, the character is posthumously mentioned in 2002’s Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and 2005’s Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and appears briefly as a Force ghost in the 2008 animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
While speaking to ComicBook.com about his upcoming film Memory, Neeson confirmed his interest in returning to the role. However, he says it would have to be for a movie, which seems to suggest he won’t appear in Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Neeson said to ComicBook.com about a possible return (and he did return to the big screen, sort of, in 2019 for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, as a disembodied ghostly voice).
Master and Apprentice by Claudia Grey
Via Del Rey
In the meantime, for fans itching for more Qui-Gon Jinn, Master and Apprentice by Claudia Grey tells the story of Obi-Wan Kenobi when he is a 17-year-old Padawan learning from his Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, who has just received an invitation to join the Jedi Council. But first, he must help Jedi Rael Averross, another former apprentice of Count Dooku who is loose with the Jedi code, with a political dispute at Pijal royal court. However, what should be an easy assignment is quickly clouded by deceit and visions of violent disaster that take hold of Qui-Gon’s mind.
Also explored in the novel, which is important for the upcoming Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, is Qui-Gon’s belief in the Jedi Prophecies, which ultimately leads to him taking Anakin under his wing. In Master and Apprentice, readers see Obi-Wan’s faith in his Master tested because of his dedication to these less accepted beliefs, a role which the character ultimately takes over when Qui-Gon is killed in The Phantom Menace.
