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Few actors have had as strange a relationship with Star Wars as Ahmed Best — from the derisive response to the Prequel Trilogy’s Jar Jar Binks upon its initial release to his 2020 comeback as Jedi Master Kellern Beq, a character he co-created for a short-lived Star Wars-themed game show, Best has been an important, but underrated presence in a galaxy far, far away for decades. 

And then came the third season of The Mandalorian, which offered redemption in a form Best never expected, but was very ready to receive.

Talking about performing what might be the most important mission of all in The Mandalorian — in a flashback, Best’s Kellern Beq is revealed to be the Jedi that rescues the young Grogu from the Empire’s Order 66 program, setting the entire show in motion — the actor clearly enjoyed the way everything turned out.

“So Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni called me. A couple of upstarts, I don’t know if you know those guys,” Best explained on the Star Wars Celebration Japan livestream. “I was a big fan of Jon Favreau, so when I got the call and it was, ‘do you want to talk?’ I was like, ‘yes. Definitely.’”

“I went to their office, and they were like, ‘we want you to be in season 3 of Mando,’ and I was like, ‘great, what am I gonna do?’ They were just like, ‘We want you to save baby Grogu. And then I was like, ‘it’s about time.’ I’ve been waiting for this call.”

“It was pretty great. The question mark of baby Grogu, who saved him and how did he get to Mando had been out there. Even I had been asking these questions, and then there were all these fan theories going on. When I got the call, I was ‘really? You want me to do this?’ And they were like, ‘yeah, and we want you to have the coolest five minutes in Mandalorian history.’ I was like, ‘I’m in. Let’s go.’”

I mean… who could turn down the coolest five minutes in one of the coolest Star Wars stories ever? Of course, now we just need a full scale Kellern Beq series. Maybe one day… after all, if Ahmed Best knows anything at this point, it’s that patience pays off when it comes to Star Wars.

Get to know, understand, and love the Star Wars franchise more with our Star Wars watch order, guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies & TV shows, and all the Star Wars movies and Star Wars TV shows ranked.