Digital artist Kevin Cassidy recently shared Star Wars fan art depicting the infamous Gungan General turned Naboo Senate Representative Jar Jar Binks as a dark lord of the Sith. According to his Twitter bio, Cassidy is a “Character & Creature Designer” and he posted the image to his account with the caption, “Darth Jar Jar. My fan art redesign for Jar Jar Binks.”
The image depicts the controversial Star Wars character in a much darker and grittier portrayal than we’re used to seeing. Jar Jar Binks made his first appearance over two decades ago in Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (1999). Audience and critic reaction to the character was, let's say, tepid at its best and downright vicious at its worst. In the years that followed, Jar Jar went on to become one of the most hated Star Wars characters to ever grace the silver screen.
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Despite this reaction, It’s been a long-time fan theory amongst the Star Wars fandom that Jar Jar Binks was actually a Sith Lord and is secretly responsible for many of the events depicted in the prequel trilogy. After The Phantom Menace, Jar Jar Bink’s role was likely to cut down due to the backlash from fans. George Lucas' original plans for Jar Jar Binks, whatever they may have been, remain a mystery.
Fanart such as this shows that, despite the initial harsh response towards Lucas's much-maligned prequel trilogy, many Star Wars fans have developed a sort of nostalgia and enthusiasm for these films in recent years. This makes sense, considering that this year marks twenty-two years since The Phantom Menace was released. A whole generation of Star Wars fans were children when the prequels came out and were much more enthusiastic and forgiving than the older fans. Much of the fan backlash at the time came from adults, many of whom were children when the original trilogy was released and felt the prequels didn’t live up to the hype and expectation.
Further media, such as the very popular Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon television series, has helped to fuel fans' appreciation for this era of the galaxy far, far away. Disney seems eager to cater to this market, considering Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen are set to reprise their prequel roles as Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader for the upcoming Disney Plus series Obi-Wan Kenobi. There was even a rumor at one time that Jar Jar Binks himself could make an appearance on the show.
Who knows, maybe the years have been hard on Jar Jar Binks and he’s taken a turn to the dark side? He is, after all, to blame for helping give then-Chancellor Sheev Palpatine emergency powers, thus laying the groundwork for his future reign as Emperor. Or maybe that was Darth Jar Jar Bink’s plan all along?
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Source: Kevin Cassidy/Twitter