Star Wars: Liam Neeson Addresses Another Return to the Franchise
Liam Neeson returned to the galaxy far, far away for a cameo appearance in last year's Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, but for fans thinking this merely opened the door for more appearances in the franchise, the actor seemingly shot down any such opportunities. Given that Neeson expressed for years that he would be interested in returning to the franchise, and how he kept a tight lid on the details of his return, we can't rule out such an opportunity definitively, though it does seem clear that Neeson himself isn't quite as passionate about making a return happen.
When replying to questions from fans for Men's Health, in response to whether Neeson could pop up in a spin-off prequel, Neeson declared, "No. Star Wars, no. As much as I admire them, there's just so many of them now ... So I've lost track, unfortunately, but there's too many of them."
Neeson brought Qui-Gon Jinn to life for 1999's Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, with the film's conclusion featuring his death at the hands of Darth Maul. Fans had largely counted out Neeson making a return to the franchise, based on how the franchise largely kept characters who had been killed off the radar of future projects. When The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, this ignited a surge of new projects from the studio, which not only saw characters from all corners of the saga return to the big screen, but also saw the development of new TV series that explored unseen corners of characters' lives, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett.
Even though Neeson's role in Obi-Wan Kenobi was relatively small, the actor previously recalled how emotional of an experience it was to reunite with Phantom Menace costar Ewan McGregor.
"It was Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan on a camel, a real camel, and me," Neeson shared at a press conference last fall. "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."
While Neeson seems to have cast doubt on returning to Star Wars, McGregor has shared that he hoped to get more opportunities to play the beloved character. Stay tuned for details on the future of the Star Wars franchise.
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