Image Source: Getty / Daniel Boczarski
The latest episode of “The Mandalorian” season three, launched on March 22, reveals for the primary time how a padawan Baby Yoda — aka Grogu — escaped the Jedi temple throughout the “Revenge of the Sith” period. That’s when Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) and the clones adopted Order 66 and attacked all Jedi and the younglings. Viewers — and Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) — first discovered that Grogu had been current on the temple that day throughout season two, however episode 4 of the third season reveals by way of Grogu’s eyes how that terrifying day went. He was saved by one Jedi specifically, and that character is performed by the identical actor who additionally starred as Jar Jar Binks within the prequels! Here’s the way it went down.
Which Jedi Saved Grogu From the Jedi Temple?
As we see in a flashback, Grogu was rescued by the Jedi Kelleran Beq. The episode marks the character’s first look in a Star Wars story, however his first onscreen look was truly because the host of the Star Wars Kids digital recreation present “Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge.” The 10-episode YouTube sequence, launched in 2020, featured groups of two children competing in Jedi-themed challenges.
Though Kelleran’s look in that present wasn’t technically a Star Wars story, it did give us some background information on Jedi Master Kelleran. His nickname is the Sabered Hand, and he beforehand served on the starship Athylia. In “Jedi Temple Challenge,” he makes use of a purple lightsaber as a tribute to Mace Windu, performed by Samuel L. Jackson within the prequels, the primary Black individual to painting a Jedi. However, Kelleran doesn’t have a purple lightsaber in “The Mandalorian.”
Who Plays Jedi Kelleran Beq in “The Mandalorian”?
Kelleran Beq — in each “Jedi Temple Challenge” and “The Mandalorian” — is performed by Ahmed Best, who first joined the Star Wars universe in 1999’s “The Phantom Menace” as Jar Jar Binks, an alien who’s maybe probably the most controversial Star Wars character of all time. Jar Jar was primarily added for comedian reduction, which followers and critics tended to seek out ridiculous, if not offensive. However, over time the character grew to become basic due to how ridiculous he’s, with many followers arising with theories that Jar Jar was actually the final word villain behind the fear within the galaxy.
Image Source: Everett Collection
And whereas some derided that Jar Jar was simply “for teenagers,” Best has stated he is truly very happy with that truth. In a 2020 interview with Star Wars Insider, he defined, “Kids all the time gave me the positivity I seemed for once I was taking part in Jar Jar.” He added, “George Lucas was actually concerning the children and ensuring they had been followers of the flicks. He would say that should you get the children, then you might have followers for the following 20 years.”
Will Kelleran Beq return in one other sequence? Well, we do not know what occurred to him after he rescued Grogu and the Empire got here to energy. In 2022’s “Obi-Wan Kenobi” sequence, viewers discovered that Obi-Wan is not the one Jedi in hiding between the tip of “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope,” so it is doable Beq may pop up throughout reveals set throughout that point, like, as an illustration, season two of “Andor.”