Star Wars had been dropping heavy hints that Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn would return since 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. In the closing moments of that movie, Yoda said Qui-Gon had “returned from the netherworld of the Force” and told Obi-Wan to begin training to perceive him.
Seventeen years later and that dangling plot thread finally paid off in the closing moments of Obi-Wan Kenobi. With Obi-Wan having gotten his Jedi mojo back after triumphing over Darth Vader and rededicating himself to Luke’s protection, he headed back into the Tatooine wastes, only to see the ethereal form of his former master waiting for him. Qui-Gon’s first words? “Took you long enough”.
Now McGregor has given his perspective on reuniting with his old The Phantom Menace co-star after so long. During an appearance at the Boston Fan Expo (as reported by Comicbook.com) he said:
“Liam is a hero of mine. Liam has got to be, I don’t know, ten years, maybe a bit more, older than I. So when I was growing up and wanting to be an actor, I was always watching Liam Neeson’s work, and he was involved in some beautiful work as a younger actor. And so to get the chance to work with him and to have this great relationship that we got to create together is fantastic, and to get the chance to work with himself again on the series right at the end.”
Rumors are building of a second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi. After all, as the show ends there’s still a decent chunk of time before A New Hope. If that happens it’d be a no-brainer to feature the Force Ghost Qui-Gon in a more involved capacity. Even after so many Force Ghosts in Star Wars we don’t quite know their full abilities, but even seeing him in an advisory role would be a fun addition to the cast.
But before then a younger Qui-Gon will appear in the upcoming Tales of the Jedi animated shorts. Neeson will voice the older version of the character, though we’ll flashback to his younger years where he’ll be voiced by Micheál Richardson, Neeson’s son. Right now we don’t know when Tales of the Jedi will land, but as far as we’re concerned the more Qui-Gon in Star Wars the better.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is streaming in full on Disney Plus.