Liam Neeson‘s return to the Star Wars universe in last year’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series was exciting for some fans and a letdown for others because of how underutilized he was. Regardless of how you felt about his reprisal of Qui-Gon Jinn, it seems that the galaxy far, far away may have seen the last of the iconic actor.
Despite expressing interest in reprising his role as Qui-Gon Jinn for years, Neeson recently shot down any potential future appearances in the franchise. In a recent interview with Men’s Health, Neeson was asked about the possibility of appearing in a spin-off prequel and had this to say:
“No more Star Wars for me. As much as I love the franchise, there are just too many of them now. I’ve lost track, but it’s just too many.”
Neeson’s portrayal of Qui-Gon Jinn in 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was a defining moment in the franchise’s history, but his death at the hands of Darth Maul seemed to signal the end of his involvement. However, the acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disney Company in 2012 sparked a new era of Star Wars projects, including TV series that explore characters and different corners of the Star Wars universe.
Neeson had a super small role in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, but the actor previously shared how emotional of an experience it was to reunite with Ewan McGregor after all those years, saying:
“It was Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan on a camel, a real camel, and me. We rehearsed it before we shot it, and we just started crying, and it was lovely. That Star Wars that we did, Phantom Menace, we shot it over 25 years ago. It came out in 1999.”
I totally understand Neeson wanting to move on from the franchise. I just wish that while Lucasfilm had him for Obi-Wan Kenobi, they would have actually done something cool with him!