Credit: Inside The MagicIf you’re a fan of Star Wars, then you’ll no doubt know who Jar Jar Binks is. Which means that you’ll probably be familiar with the popular Internet theory, Darth Jar Jar.
Brought to life using motion capture performance, played and voiced by actor Ahmed Best, Jar Jar Binks is the bumbling Gungan warrior first introduced in Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace (1999). But it’s no mystery that he did not go down well with fans.
You’d have been hard-pressed to find a Star Wars fan who didn’t roll their eyes at the mere mention of Jar Jar. But, on the darker side of the fanbase, many aimed their contempt for the character at Best, in what became one of the first publicized cases of “cyberbullying.”
Though his role was significantly reduced, Best returned in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005). He also reprised his role in the beloved animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020).
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But while Jar Jar Binks had become well-known by fans for all the wrong reasons, in 2010, he became infamous when a Reddit user named of “Lumpawarroo” published a theory speculating that the character was originally written as a Sith Lord hiding in plain sight; an accomplice of Chancellor-turned-Emperor Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid).
Several videos detailing the Darth Jar Jar theory, which feature scenes where the Gungan can be seen performing suspicious activities in the background from apparent Jedi Mind Tricks to acrobatic fighting skills typically attributed to Force users, can be found online.
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Five years later, fans connected the theory to an earlier interview with Ahmed Best, who claimed that Jar Jar Binks was originally intended to have a much bigger role than he did in the prequels, but was relegated to a background character due to all the negative backlash.
Whether or not the Darth Jar Jar theory holds any merit remains unknown. However, last year, Disney and Lucasfilm finally decided to give the character life in the animated short, Star Wars LEGO: Rebuild the Galaxy (2024), in which Best voices the Sith Lord version.
Check out the trailer below:
Now, Darth Jar Jar is back once again, albeit in a slightly more serious form.
Revealed by Lucasfilm and Epic Games during last weekend’s Star Wars Celebration, the character has been added to “Fortnite Battle Royale” as part of a wider faraway galaxy-themed season. Watch the new trailer for the upcoming Star Wars “Fortnite” event below:
Giving Darth Jar Jar life in the world of video games and LEGO shorts is one thing, but whether he’ll ever appear in animation or live action is another matter entirely.
Personally, we think Jar Jar, whether it’s the bumbling Gungan warrior or the Sith Lord version, deserves his own live-action television series. After all, most fans have warmed to him over the years, while Ahmed Best is now a widely celebrated figure within the fandom.
Best has also since returned to Star Wars as a completely different character, appearing briefly as the Jedi Kelleran Beq in The Mandalorian Season 3.
“Fortnite Battle Royale” begins on May 2 in time for this year’s Star Wars Day on May 4.
Would you like to see Darth Jar Jar make more appearances in Star Wars? Let us know in the comments down below!