Jar Jar Binks Will Not Appear In ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will not feature the Jar Jar Binks character that made his debut in the prequel films.

No Jar Jar Binks In ‘The Force Awakens’

Jar Jar Binks, voiced by Ahmed Best, appeared in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The character, a clumsy Gungan, proved to be an unpopular character with his grating slapstick humor.

However, ahead of Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ release, rumors started to swirl that Jar Jar Binks could be reappearing with a far more interesting story. It was theorized that Jar Jar Binks was a powerful user of the Force, quite possibly an evil Sith lord. And, that Andy Serkis‘ Supreme Leader Snoke was the villain in question.

However, during a press conference and panel discussion in Los Angeles on Sunday, those rumors were squashed. Producer Kathleen Kennedy, when asked by moderator Mindy Kaling what wouldn’t be in the movie, took the opportunity to definitively state that Jar Jar Binks will not be featured in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

“Jar Jar is not in the movie,” Kennedy said, earning cheers from the audience.

Also not in the movie? Ewoks. “Ewoks are not in the movie. Harrison insisted on it,” Kenned added.

“It was in my contract,” Harrison Ford chimed in.

Later on during the panel, Kennedy opened up about why so little information has been revealed about the forthcoming Star Wars movie, explaining that they wanted viewers to actually experience some surprise in theaters.

“We have so few surprises anymore when you walk in to see a movie. It’s all in the trailers or ends up online well in advance,” she said of the secrecy surrounding the heavily-anticipated film. “That’s really all that’s driving it. We’ve respected that in all ways we can.”