The Mandalorian may have received widespread critical acclaim and won seven Emmys from fifteen nominations for the first season, and established itself as the single most popular TV show on the planet during the second, but it was almost inevitable that the backlash towards Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s Star Wars series would begin at some point.
With the dust having settled on an explosive season 2 finale, many folks began voicing their discontent at just how heavily The Mandalorian relied on fan service to power the story, something that the Sequel Trilogy deservedly came under fire for. While it isn’t quite a live-action equivalent of South Park‘s “Member Berries,” the unabashed nostalgia has nonetheless started to grate on certain people.
The biggest test of Star Wars‘ rose-tinted glasses, though, will surely come if the various rumors turn out to be true, and Jar-Jar Binks returns as has been frequently speculated in Obi-Wan Kenobi. After all, we’re talking about a character that most longtime fans would agree was the worst thing to happen to the franchise until Kathleen Kennedy came along, with the vitriol torpedoing Ahmed Best’s entire career.
Yesterday brought the latest in a long line of reports that the infamous Gungan could be appearing again to share the screen with Ewan McGregor’s title hero once more, burdened by the bizarre caveat that he’ll have a beard this time around. Knowing how the internet tends to operate, seeing Jar-Jar with some hefty facial furniture would no doubt make him into a sex symbol in a startling turn of events, but with Obi-Wan Kenobi already bringing back Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker, it’d also make sense from a storytelling perspective given the former Senator’s history with the Jedi.
