Liam Neeson jokes about reprising his Star Wars role in a dark Jar Jar Binks movie (we hope)

Liam Neeson isn’t exactly known for his sense of humor, but the former Qui-Gon Jinn cracked a pretty good joke at Star Wars Celebration Orlando 2017 when he mentioned that he’s appearing in a new Star Wars solo film about the prequel trilogy’s most despised character, Jar Jar Binks.

During the convention’s celebration of 40 years of Star Wars, Neeson sent a video message to the crowd and delivered the “news” with a completely straight face. Check it out:

In case that video gets pulled or you can’t watch it for some reason, Neeson says, “I’ve been very honored to play Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace. I’m actually here on location in the Canadian Rockies. We’re making a very unofficial movie about Jar Jar Binks and what happened to Jar Jar. Spoiler alert - he did go to the dark side.”

He’s clearly joking, but I do sort of love the idea of Neeson starring in an unofficial fan film about the future of Jar Jar. And it sounds like he did his research when referencing Jar Jar’s future, because before The Force Awakens came out, the internet was full of fan theories about how Jar Jar was secretly a Sith Lord and the true mastermind behind the rise of the Empire in the Star Wars saga. Unfortunately, the Lucasfilm Story Group didn’t take those suggestions to heart, and the truth about what really happened to Jar Jar after Revenge of the Sith is so sad it might actually cause you to wipe a tear from your eye.

For more about this year’s Star Wars Celebration, check out everything you’ve missed so far and take a look at our list of 10 questions we have after watching The Last Jedi trailer.

Image: Lucasfilm

Ben Pearson
Ben is an entertainment journalist who has written about movies online for nearly a decade. He loves the Fast & Furious franchise, prefers Indiana Jones to Star Wars, and will defend the ending of Lost until his dying day. He shook Bill Murray's hand once (so he's got that going for him, which is nice). Ben lives in Los Angeles with his wife.