Liam Neeson might have been a regular presence on our screens since the late 1970s, but it wasn’t until he reinvented himself as an action hero close to his 60th birthday that he became a genuine box office draw. The actor had garnered plenty of acclaim for his work in the likes of Darkman, Schindler’s List, Rob Roy, Michael Collins, Gangs of New York and Batman Begins, but it was Taken that launched the most sustained period of success he’d enjoyed in his entire career.
Despite claiming that he’d be turning his back on the action genre in late 2017, since then, the 68 year-old has appeared in The Commuter, Widows, Men in Black: International and Honest Thief, none of which could exactly be called slow-burning dramas. And with Disney desperately clinging on to the past when it comes to Star Wars, there’s been plenty of speculation that Neeson could return as Qui-Gon Jinn in a future project as well.
The Phantom Menace star may have recently cast doubt on those rumors in a recent interview where it became pretty clear that he hasn’t been keeping up to date with the franchise, but insider Daniel Richtman is now claiming that Lucasfilm might have big plans in store for Obi-Wan’s former mentor. According to the tipster, the studio wants Neeson for his own project, despite the obvious hurdle of Qui-Gon Jinn being dead. And furthermore, he says that the actor is interested in returning to the role, too.
“One of the stuff in very early stages of development is a Qui-Gon Jinn project. Neeson is interested in coming back to the role,” he says.
Of course, the Disney era of Star Wars has been plagued by more than a few major unexplainable plot holes, so it isn’t outside the realm of possibility for this to happen. After all, there’s definitely plenty of mileage in seeing Liam Neeson transplant his status as cinema’s favorite grizzled elder badass to a galaxy far, far away.
