While the Irish actor has expressed interest in returning to the franchise for many years, he told Men’s Health that he would not be reprising the role of Qui-Gon after his last appearance in 2022’s Obi-Wan Kenobi series .
No, Star Wars, no. I admire them so much… But there are just so many of them now. So I lost count, unfortunately.
Neeson has been playing Qui-Gon Jinn, an extremely wise Jedi Master since 1999. In his first appearance, Jinn was sent to settle an intergalactic trade dispute alongside Obi-Wan Kenobi played by Ewan McGregor.
Qui-Gon was annihilated at the end of The Phantom Menace as he was impaled by Darth Maul’s twin lightsaber. However, the character continued to appear in Star Wars films and series for the next twenty years through The Force and reused footage.
In 2012, The Walt Disney Company purchased Lucasfilm, and this sparked a wave of new projects from the studio that not only brought characters from all corners of the saga back to the big screen, but also spawned new TV series that explored never-before-seen corners of characters’ lives, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Boba Fett.
In Star Wars: Skywalker. In Rebirth , Yoda used the Force to contact Qui-Gon’s spirit. Neeson’s voice can be heard at the end of the movie when Jinn was giving Rey directions. Neeson similarly provided his voice in the Clone Wars animated series , where his character took the form of a Force spirit. He also appeared in last year’s Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney+. Although the character of Qui-Gon only made cameo appearances, Neeson played her each time.
Most recently, Neeson portrayed the character in the 2022 animated series Tales of the Jedi . In an episode of the series, Neeson reprized the role for the last time, while the younger version of Qui-Gon was voiced by Neeson’s son, Micheál Richardson.
Neeson previously told fans that he would potentially return to the role as long as it was a feature-length project. Disney and Lucasfilm currently have two untitled Star Wars projects in the pipeline for 2025 and 2027, however Neeson’s latest statement suggests fans shouldn’t expect the long-time Jedi Master to appear in either film.
