The Mandalorian executive producers Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau discuss Ahmed Best returning to Star Wars after his The Mandalorian Season 3 cameo.
The door is not yet closed for Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best to return to the Star Wars galaxy after appearing as Jedi Master Kelleran Beq in The Mandalorian.
Speaking alongside The Mandalorian showrunner/executive producer Jon Favreau on Entertainment Weekly’s Dagobah Dispatch podcast, fellow EP Dave Filoni said, “It’s always a possibility,” regarding a future Star Wars appearance from Best. “We love Ahmed, and he did such a great job,” Filoni continued. “It was a real thrill for us to get him involved.”
The Mandalorian’s Ahmed Best Appearance, Explained
Filoni and Favreau shared how Best’s cameo came to be in The Mandalorian, which turned his previously non-canon Jedi from the Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge game show into the canonical savior of Grogu during Order 66. Filoni spoke on discussing the cameo with Best before it came to fruition, saying, “[We try to] make it a real collaboration and think it’s really key to the success of it.” Favreau added why Kelleran Beq wound up being the Jedi to save Grogu, explaining, “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.”
Best appeared as Beq in The Mandalorian Season 3, Episode 4, “Chapter 20: The Foundling.” During a flashback to the events of Order 66, the Jedi massacre carried out by the Republic’s clone army, Beq rescues Grogu from the Jedi Temple on Coruscant while clones attack those inside. The two then fly away from the planet in a starship together. What isn’t explained in the episode, however, is how Grogu winds up with Nikto mercenaries later on, where Star Wars fans first meet Grogu in The Mandalorian’s Season 1 premiere.
As of writing, The Mandalorian has released its entire third season on Disney+. The series has not been officially greenlit for a fourth season yet, but Favreau revealed in Feb. 2023 that The Mandalorian Season 4 is already written, and that it was mapped out alongside Filoni. “I was writing it during post-production [on The Mandalorian Season 3] because all of it has to feel like a continuation, one full story,” Favreau said. Whether Best would appear in The Mandalorian Season 4 remains to be seen though.
The Mandalorian and Other Shows Build to a Star Wars Movie
That “one full story” mentioned by Favreau is set to culminate in a Star Wars movie helmed by Filoni. Announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023, the film is set to be a crossover between characters and events from Star Wars series like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka and Skeleton Crew. Ahsoka is the next Star Wars series slated to release, premiering on Disney+ in Aug. 2023.
