Jar Jar Binks: one-time laughing stock and, in the years since the prequel trilogy, the subject of surprisingly detailed fan theories that he is – in fact – a Sith Lord.
Almost a decade ago, Redditor Lumpawarroo cracked the case wide open with a tongue-in-cheek 2,500-word essay detailing how Darth Jar Jar was actually pulling the strings alongside Palpatine. Over 8,000 comments later, a legend was born.
Since then, many have latched onto the ridiculous notion that the Gungan is actually the root of all evil. But it was all fan fiction and pie-in-the-sky hopes – until now.
"That was one of those things where, very early on in these discussions about what this show was gonna be like — we knew we wanted to rebuild the galaxy, mash things up, and it felt like the perfect opportunity. 'We need to do Darth Jar Jar,'" writer and executive producer Benji Samit told ComicBook.com.
"That was one of the first ideas we had where we were just sort of like, 'Do you think we could try this thing?' And to everyone at Lucasfilm and LEGO's credit, they just said yes. Everyone was game for exactly what we wanted to do here," Samit said. "I can think back to us, before we had any success, just hanging out, eating junk food, and theorizing about Dar Jar Jar. And now to say that we made it happen is pretty wild."
The new Disney Plus series, set for release on September 13, sees Ahmed Best return to voice Darth Jar Jar in what Samit describes as a "canon-adjacent" adventure that sees the Star Wars universe shaken up after – as per the synopsis – "an ordinary nerf-herder, Sig Greebling (Stranger Things' Gaten Matarazzo), unearths a powerful artifact from a hidden Jedi temple."
