Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Star Liam Neeson Recalls Touching Memory of His Son With R2-D2

Star Wars prequel stars Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen are finally making their returns to the franchise with the release of Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+ next month. One prequel star who won’t be joining them is Liam Neeson. The beloved action movie star led the cast of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace as Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan’s mentor. Neeson only appeared in that one Star Wars film, because Qui-Gon was killed by Darth Maul in the movie’s final act, but the actor still has plenty of love and fond memories for the franchise.

During a recent interview with Screen Rant, Neeson opened up about his time shooting The Phantom Menace back in 1998. He recalled a fond memory of his young son visiting him on the set in London and becoming instantly enamored with R2-D2.

“I cannot believe it was 24 years ago that we shot the film in London. My gosh. I remember my son. I’ll tell you a funny story. My son, Michael, was two. His nanny brought him out to visit me on set and it was lunchtime. I held him in my arms and took him around the set and there was R2-D2, just sitting parked. My son looked at this strange piece of metal, in my arms, and just went, ‘[stretches arms out]’ So I had to let him down and he waddled over and started hugging R2-D2.”

“I thought it was very interesting. He was two. He knows nothing about Star Wars, saw any of the movies. It was just so cute,” he continued. “I remember telling George Lucas after lunch, I said, ‘I brought my son on. He had to go down and hug R2-D2 and it was really touching.’ And George said, ‘Yeah. R2-D2 has that effect on kids.’ And I just thought it was very, very sweet, so it reminded me of that.”

Neeson’s Qui-Gon only had the chance to appear in one Star Wars movie, but he had a profound impact on the entire Skywalker Saga. It was Qui-Gon who not only discovered Anakin, but also pushed the council to allow him to enter Jedi training, paving the path for his eventual turn to the Dark Side.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is streaming on Disney+ alongside the rest of the Skywalker Saga.