Ahmed Best could return to The Mandalorian as Kelleran Beq

Step aside, Din Djarin. You may have done a fine job of protecting Grogu so far on The Mandalorian — even if Grogu had to save you a few times — but the only reason Grogu was even around to meet Mando is because of another man: Kelleran Beq.

In a flashback during season 3 of the show, we saw Grogu's escape from the Order 66 purge of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, an escape that happened only thanks to the heroics of Jedi Master Beq. As relieved as the padawan was to see Beq, fans were equally shocked to see that the man playing Grogu's savior was none other than Jar Jar Binks himself, Ahmed Best.

Best first portrayed Kelleran as the host of a 2020 online children's game show called Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge. He also had a cameo in Attack of the Clones as a different character named Achk Med-Beq (get it?), a patron of the Outlander Club on Coruscant, and seeming relation to Kelleran.

Lucasfilm Ltd. Ahmed Best as Jedi Kelleran Beq on 'The Mandalorian'

The return of Best — who was on the receiving end of turn-of-the-century vitriol for playing the polarizing Jar Jar — was celebrated by fans who have grown up with much fonder memories of the character, with some even publicly advocating for a Jar Jar redemption arc.

But as great as it was to see the affable Best back in action… will we see him again? The flashback ended with Beq and Grogu blasting out of Coruscant into hyperspace, leading one to wonder if we can look forward to seeing more of both the actor and character. So when Mandalorian executive producers Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau stopped by EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast, we asked if there were future plans in store.

"It's always a possibility," Filoni says. "We love Ahmed, and he did such a great job. It was a real thrill for us to get him involved."

Lucasfilm Ltd. Ahmed Best in 'Star Wars: Episode II — Attack of the Clones'

And it seems Best was involved from pretty early on in the process. "We talked with him about it," Filoni says. "We come up with these ideas and we think: Who might work with it? We make sure before we get too far to bring them into the process, so it's not just like, 'Here's who you're going to play.' It's like, 'What do you think of this? We want you to be this person. What are your thoughts on it?' [We try to] make it a real collaboration and think it's really key to the success of it."

Just as surprising to fans as the reemergence of Best was the fact that The Mandalorian was bringing in a character that had started on an online game show for kids. "He had done a lot of work on that character of Kelleran Beq for Jedi Temple Challenge," Favreau says. "So he's been involved with Star Wars all the way through and definitely had formulated this character. And we love to draw from all of Star Wars, and even things that aren't canon. If they feel right, we'll pull 'em in. And now that character exists squarely in Star Wars canon."

Favreau then tips his hand a bit in terms of whether we will see Best as Beq again: "I think people dig seeing that character. I want to learn more about that character."

Joe Pugliese for EW Ahmed Best

Filoni notes that Best's time on The Mandalorian may have induced a case of déjà vu. "It was fun watching him on set, because we had clones and we had Naboo guards," he says. "And I think for him it was a real flashback. There wouldn't have been any clones on set [during the prequels] because they were all digital, but we actually had people in armor. I think he really paused and took it in."

As for the Mandalorian exec producers, they love bringing in those blasts from the past. "When you're a veteran of this thing, I think it hits you in probably a very different way," Filoni says. "And he worked with [George Lucas], which is very special. It's fun to have these people still included. Like in Obi-Wan Kenobi, with [Hayden Christensen]. How great was that? Just seeing them. It lives on, and Star Wars keeps continuing in the best possible way.

Let's hope Best's Kelleran Beq continues on in much the same way.

To listen to our full interview with Favreau and Filoni as well as chats with Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Pedro Pascal, Katee Sackhoff, and more, listen to EW's Dagobah Dispatch podcast.

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