We could be seeing a Star Wars prequel trilogy reunion on Disney+ as Liam Neeson is open to returning as Qui-Gon Jinn in the streamer’s upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series. After it was announced that Ewan McGregor will be back to play the titular character in the limited series, Hayden Christensen boarded the project to reprise the role of Anakin Skywalker. There are no plans for Neeson to be featured in the series at this time, but many Star Wars fans are still holding out hope for Qui-Gon Jinn’s return.
Speaking with Collider in a recent interview, Liam Neeson was apparently surprised to learn that fans were calling for Obi-Wan Kenobi to bring back Qui-Gon Jinn as well. The actor was then asked directly if he’d be up for appearing as the character in a flashback sequence in the Disney+ series, and Neeson made it clear that he’s very open to it with his response.
“Sure, I’d be up for that, yeah,” Neeson said with a smile on his face.
Nesson has only physically appeared as Qui-Gon Jinn in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. His voice was used in the 2002 sequel Attack of the Clones, and he later reprised the role in three episodes of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In 2019, he made another voice cameo as Qui-Gon Jinn alongside many other franchise stars in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It didn’t seem likely that we’d ever see him back in the role in a live-action project, but the Obi-Wan Kenobi series opens up all kinds of possibilities.
Deborah Chow, who helmed part of The Mandalorian on Disney+ to great success, will direct the Obi-Wan Kenobi series. Chow will also executive produce alongside McGregor, Kathleen Kennedy, and Tracey Seaward. Joby Harold (Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead) will write the series following the departure of previous writer Hossein Amini. In December, Disney revealed at the company’s Investor Day 2020 that the show would be set ten years after the events of Revenge of the Sith.
“I think the scripts are great,” McGregor said of the upcoming series last year at the Birds of Prey premiere. “They’re in really good shape. They want them to be better. I think we keep our same airdate. All good.”
And that’s just one small part of Disney’s overall plan to develop at least ten new Star Wars projects in the near future. Other titles in the works that have fans excited include an Ahsoka Tano live-action series, a Lando Calrissian series, and a Rogue Squadron movie directed by Wonder Woman helmer Patty Jenkins.
As for Neeson, he can next be seen in his new movie The Marksman, which releases on Jan. 15. Directed by Robert Lorenz, the movie stars Neeson as Jim Hanson, a rancher on the Arizona border who becomes the unlikely defender of a young Mexican boy desperately fleeing the cartel assassins who’ve pursued him into the U.S. It’s a role that seems tailor-made for the Taken star. This news comes to us from Collider.
