Although it's by no means his most notable or celebrated role, a lot of people still continue to associate Liam Neeson with Qui-Gonn Jinn, the one-and-done character he played in 'The Phantom Menace'.
Despite being killed off in the final moments of that movie, the character's reappeared time and again in animated series, comic books, games, even though Liam Neeson has had more or less nothing to do with 'Star Wars' since then.
Surprisingly, since the Disney+ series 'Obi-Wan' was announced, there hasn't been any word on whether Liam Neeson will be returning to play Qui-Gonn Jinn, but now we have some clarity as to why that is - chiefly, because nobody's asked him to.
In fact, during his interview with Collider, Neeson seem surprised that fans even wanted him back in the role, and was wondering whether or not 'Star Wars' was still out there in the cinematic landscape - to which we can only wonder if Neeson has been living under a rock with no internet access for the past few years.
Of course, when asked if he was up for coming back, Neeson gave that famous smile and said, "Sure, I'd be up for that, yeah." The question now is, are the makers of the Disney+ series up for it?
Evidently, bringing back Hayden Christensen for the role of Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader was a big deal for them, but why not go all the way and rope in Liam Neeson?
It's not as if he's been idle these past few years, and considering what they were able to do with Mark Hamill in the season finale of 'The Mandalorian', it doesn't seem that difficult to make him look like he did in 'The Phantom Menace' either. In fact, just to go even harder into the nerdiness for a moment, the final moments of 'Revenge of the Sith' revealed that Yoda was going to train Obi-Wan how to commune with Force spirits while he was hiding on Tatooine, including teaching him how to communicate with Qui-Gonn Jinn - so there's definitely a reason in the story that makes sense.
Maybe Neeson's just playing dumb and he's been signed up already? Who knows. 'Obi-Wan' is expected on Disney+ some time in 2022.