Jamie Stangroom — he of the fascinatingly tragic interview with actor Ahmed Best earlier this year — sat down with the man behind Jar Jar Binks again. This time the two discussed the infamous, ludicrous “Darth Jar Jar” theory that Jar Jar was a Sith Lord working with Palpatine in the prequels. Best’s surprising response: “There’s a lot about it that’s true.”
Yes, that’s Ahmed Best not dismissing the insane fan theory that took the internet by storm last year, which concluded Jar Jar was secretly a martial arts master, had Force powers, and will be eventually revealed as the identity of Supreme Leader Snoke in the sequels.
You can see the full interview with Stangroom above, but here’s the pertinent part where Best is directly asked about Darth Jar Jar:
What I can say about it is. There’s a lot about it thats true. There’s some things that are not true. Could Jar Jar have evolved into that? I think the answer is yes. Because of the backlash, and rightly so, lucasfilm backed off from Jar Jar a lot. But a lot of the influence I put into Jar Jar mirrored a lot of what was already in the star wars universe. Was there an official Darth Jar Jar in the works? I cannot answer that question, that’s a George Lucas question.
I want to believe that Best is being facetious, but if he is, he’s selling it pretty well. Furthermore, he revealed a deleted Jar Jar scene from Revenge of the Sith that — if he isn’t totally playing us — sounds fascinating:
I really liked that scene and it got cut from the movie because Jar Jar was so unpopular (in my opinion), it was just me and Palpatine walking down the runway, talking about the plans to turn the empire into what it had turned out to be. It was a very dark, very personal, quiet scene, but for some reason Palpatine decided to confide in Jar Jar that pretty much he was going to reap havoc. Wherever that scene is, that would really give great credibility to the Darth Jar Jar theory.
That’s crazy as shit. I’m not sure it would have proven Jar Jar was a Sith, but it would have confirmed a shockingly dark, tragic fall for a character who began as a wacky alien with a tendency to step in alien poop. Again, if it’s actually real — I’m not convinced Best isn’t just having fun at the expense of the fans who made his life a merry hell for the last 15 years. We all totally deserve it.
All that said, if Darth Jar Jar were real, Best knows what he would sound like, and it is chilling.