George Lucas' Favorite Star Wars Character Is About As George Lucas As It Gets
Everyone has their own favorite "Star Wars" character, be it Grogu — the child formerly known as Baby Yoda, who became a viral sensation and parade balloon thanks to "The Mandalorian" — or any one of a galaxy full of other aliens, droids, and Jedi. As "Star Wars" characters go, the American Film Institute is partial to Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Obi-Wan Kenobi, all of whom ranked on its list of the greatest movie heroes and villains of all time. Meanwhile, some of us here at /Film (raises hand) are unabashed Luke Skywalker fans and will defend him to our dying day, whiny "New Hope" voice and all.
But "Star Wars" creator George Lucas marches to the beat of a different Ewok drum. Though Lucas sold the "Star Wars" franchise to Disney in 2012 and is no longer involved with it, he obviously created it and was instrumental in steering it for the first 35 years of its existence, dating back to the 1977 release of the original "Star Wars" movie, which he wrote and directed. Less popular was the prequel trilogy that he began in 1999 with "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace." In a poll we conducted asking fans to choose the best "Star Wars" movie, only one of the prequel films, "Revenge of the Sith," even ranked (coming in dead last, at that).
Though Disney's sequel films now bear the brunt of online fan disgruntlement, much of that was aimed for years at Lucas, his prequels, and actors like Ahmed Best, who portrayed the CG character, Jar Jar Binks. Maybe this is why Lucas, the defiant '70s Movie Brat turned Lucasfilm mogul, has stuck to his guns and named Jar Jar as his favorite "Star Wars" character.
'Of course Jar Jar is my favorite character'
At "Star Wars" Celebration in 2019, Lucas recorded a video message for "The Phantom Menace" 20th anniversary panel, where he said (via Indiewire):
"Thank you for coming to the Celebration. ['The Phantom Menace'] is one of my favorite movies and of course Jar Jar is my favorite character. Ahmed [Best], you did a fantastic job. It was very, very hard."
Whatever you think of Jar Jar, it was nice to see Lucas make a public show of support for Best, who revealed the year before that he had contemplated suicide due to the media backlash he received over his association with the character.
When Lucas was inducted as a Disney Legend at the D23 Expo in 2015, he also revealed that the Disney character Goofy was the inspiration for Jar Jar. You can see the resemblance in those floppy ears of his. It makes it a little bit harder to hate on the gangly Gungan (unless you also want to hate on Goofy ... in which case, are you human?!)
Around the time Jar Jar first showed up back in 1999, some fans started to shift in their theater seats and think, "I've got a bad feeling about this." His role was greatly reduced after "The Phantom Menace," but there's an old Reddit theory — which Best has embraced — that Jar Jar was actually a Sith masquerading as a clumsy fool the whole time.
As the theory goes, Jar Jar was meant to be an inversion of Yoda: his shtick would be annoying at first, but then at some point, the "Star Wars" prequels would drop the bombshell that he was the evil mastermind behind everything. Maybe this is why he's the one who proposes the Galactic Senate give emergency powers to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, thereby paving the way for the Emperor's rise to power.
For some fans, this fascinating bit of revisionism might cast Jar Jar in a better light. Look into his unsettling, reptilian yellow eyes. Don't you think there's more to Jar Jar than meets the eye? Is it coincidence or conspiracy that he share the same initials as J.J. Abrams, the director of "The Force Awakens?"
Darth Jar Jar makes everything better.