Yesterday morning, Star Wars fans who grew up on the prequel trilogy– or even just those rooting for the success of well-intended performers– were thrilled to see actor Ahmed Best pop up in a flashback on The Mandalorian, revealed to be the Jedi who whisked young Grogu away from the chaos of Order 66 on Coruscant.
But who is Best’s character Kelleran Beq? Have we seen him before in Star Wars media? The answer comes in the form of a 2020 kid-focused game show on YouTube entitled Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge, of which you can watch the first episode embedded below.
Watch Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge – Episode 1:
In Jedi Temple Challenge, Jedi Master Kelleran Beq leads younglings through a series of tasks, in a game show experience similar to the 90s Nickelodeon series Legends of the Hidden Temple. Jedi Temple Challenge only ran for ten episodes on YouTube, though it was originally planned to be released on Disney+, and as of yesterday I would have thought it was safe to assume that we’d likely seen the last of Kelleran Beq.
Now we know that Beq was the Jedi who saved Grogu from certain death at the hands of the Republic clone troopers whose minds were controlled by inhibitor chips and activated by Emperor Palpatine with the evil intent of wiping out the Jedi Order. This revelation feels especially vindicating for Ahmed Best as an actor, whose role as the accident-prone Gungan Jar Jar Binks in the prequel trilogy was– through no fault of Best’s– derided by a large portion of the Star Wars fanbase.
Another interesting side note in Ahmed Best’s relationship with Star Wars is that the actor had already appeared as a character who wasn’t Jar Jar in the prequel trilogy, as well. In Episode II – Attack of the Clones, Best portrayed Achk Med-Beq, a patron in the Outlander Club bar on Coruscant where Jedi Knights Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker pursue the bounty hunter Zam Wesell. Best has stated in interviews that he believes Achk Med-Beq and Kelleran Beq to be somehow related, hence their quite similar last names. Will we see more of Kelleran Beq (and maybe even Achk Med-Beq) in the future of Star Wars storytelling on Disney+? Only time will tell, but I’m sure many fans are hoping that will be the case.
The Mandalorian episode “Chapter 20 – The Foundling” is available to stream right now exclusively via Disney+.