When Star Wars: The Phantom Menace opened in May 1999, it had some notable star power attached in the form of Liam Neeson, who played Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. Although Qui-Gon met his demise at the hands of Darth Maul towards the end of the movie, the character has remained a fan-favorite all these years later, and Neeson’s even had a few opportunities to reprise Obi-Wan Kenobi’s mentor. However, Neeson has shared that he’s not a fan of the Star Wars franchise released so much content these days.
Liam Neeson shared this opinion on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen while promoting his 2023 new movie release Marlowe, as he was asked by a fan if he was interested in doing a Qui-Gon Jinn spinoff for Disney+. The actor answered:
No, I’m not. There’s so many spinoffs of Star Wars. It’s diluting it to me, and it’s taken away the mystery and the magic in a weird way.
This statement comes eight months after Liam Neeson cameoed at the end of the Obi-Wan Kenobi finale as Qui-Gon Jinn in Force Ghost form, appearing before the title character after he’d returned to Tatooine. While Liam Neeson said that it was nice to do the “little bit” with Ewan McGregor more than two decades after they were first paired together in a galaxy far, far away, but that was enough for him. Not only does he have no interest in leading any kind of Qui-Gon project, he thinks there’s an overabundance of Star Wars content out now, which has diminished the franchise in his eyes.
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The last several years have certainly seen an increased output of onscreen Star Wars stories. Granted, a Star Wars movie hasn’t been released since 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker, and while there a number of them in development, including Patty Jenkins’ Rogue Squadron, the movie Taika Waititi is writing with Krysty Wilson-Cairns and the movie Shawn Levy will work on once he’s done with Deadpool 3, none of them have release dates. Conversely, Disney+ subscribers have had access to shows like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor, and Ahsoka, Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte (which has an especially stacked cast) are on the way. All that, plus the video games, novels and comic book series being regularly churned out, mean that Star Wars fans aren’t lacking for ways this franchise can keep them entertained.
Still, maybe you feel like Liam Neeson does and wish the Star Wars franchise would reduce this output, placing more emphasis on quality over quantity. Well, that wish may just be granted, as THR recently shared that Disney will cut down on the amount of Star Wars and Marvel projects made in order to cut costs. This doesn’t mean we’ll go back to the days when a year or more would pass before new offerings from either franchises were released, but evidently the landscape won’t be as crowded going forward.
In any case, sorry for those of you who’ve wanted to see a Qui-Gon Jinn-centric movie or TV show, but it’s not going to happen. But if you want to know the latest on what’s happening with Star Wars both on the big screen and on Disney+, keep CinemaBlend as your destination for such news.
