Would Liam Neeson Return To Star Wars As Qui-Gon Jinn? Here's What He Said

Qui-Gon battling Darth Maul

It's a good time to be a Star Wars fan. With Disney now in charge of the property and showing no signs of slowing down, we should expect new Star Wars movies every year for the foreseeable future. Between standalone films, the main installments, and Rian Johnson's new trilogy, there's a wealth of stories and characters to be mined from the galaxy far, far away. With films like Solo: A Star Wars Story exploring characters' past, it seems like no character is off limits to show up again. But could this include Liam Neeson's Qui-Gon Jinn from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace? The seemingly ageless actor was recently asked about the possibility of reprising his role, saying:

This is the first time I'm hearing of this. No one's been in touch with me. I know in the Star Wars world anything is possible. In the first one, The Phantom Menace, I died but we know, you know, Jedi come back and stuff but no one's been in touch. We'll see.

Spoiler alert, Neeson! All jokes aside, it certainly seems like Liam Neeson is open to reprising his role as Qui-Gon Jinn sometime in the future. It just depends on if Lucasfilm ends up developing a project that would call for his inclusion, and if the role is exciting enough for Neeson to sign on.

Liam Neeson's comments to Yahoo are sure to excite the Star Wars fans that were disappointed that Liam Neeson didn't get to become a larger role in the franchise. While he was a Jedi and all around badass in Phantom Menace, his death at the hands of Darth Maul stopped him from becoming quite as iconic as Vader or Obi-Wan.

Qui-Gon Jinn was definitely one of the high points of The Phantom Menace, which is largely considered one of the worse films in the franchise. While George Lucas attempted to keep the film light and kid-friendly, Liam Neeson's character showed Star Wars fans what a bonafide Jedi Master looked like. And while the film has plenty of flaws, the battle between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul is a highlight of the entire film franchise.

Now the question is, where exactly could Liam Neeson's Star Wars character pop back up? The long rumored Obi-Wan Kenobi solo movie could be the best choice. If Obi-Wan's movie is set in between the events of the prequels and his eventual appearance in A New Hope, it would no doubt show how he reflected on his missteps. Perhaps a Force Ghost of Qui-Gon could set him on the right path, and eventually lead him to briefly train Luke in the ways of The Force in the franchise's first film. We'll just have to wait and see.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is still in theaters now, and the next installment in the Star Wars franchise will be Solo: A Star Wars Story on May 25th. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your trips to the movies this year.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.