Of all the franchise series coming to Disney+, few are quite as exciting as Obi-Wan. The series will see the return of Ewan McGregor as the titular Jedi in a story set between trilogies. However, McGregor won't be alone, as it has been confirmed that Hayden Christensen will be back in the role of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader. Unfortunately, one character that many Star Wars fans wanted to see that won't be appearing is a Force Ghost Qui-Gon Jinn, as Liam Neeson has confirmed he won't be part of the new show.
That means we won't see Qui-Gon appearing to Obi-Wan to relay words of wisdom, but that doesn't mean that Qui-Gon wouldn't have words of wisdom for Obi-Wan Kenobi. Speaking with ReelBlend co-host Jake Hamilton, Liam Neeson says that he knows exactly what Qui-Gon would say if given the chance. According to Neeson, he'd say...
Keep on trucking Obi-Wan! Keep on trucking, baby, and may the Force be with you always.
It's almost surprising that we're not expecting a Qui-Gon appearance in the Obi-Wan series. The prequel films establish that Qui-Gon is the first Jedi who has a found a way to communicate with the living world after joining with the Force. While he's not a Force Ghost as we know them, he generally doesn't have a physical form, we have seen Qui-Gon communicate in the Clone Wars animated series, so it wouldn't be a shock if we at least heard his voice in the series.
And considering that Hayden Christensen is going to appear in Obi-Wan, and thus we can expect that master and apprentice will see each other again, it would make some sense for the Jedi who started all this to be involved in some way. Considering that we would expect Darth Vader to be completely covered in black armor and to sound like James Earl Jones, getting Christensen involved actually seems more complicated than getting Liam Neeson.
Of course, Lucasfilm would likely need to go heavy on the makeup or CGI to make an actual Force Ghost work anyway. The story allows for the other actors to age but technically Qui-Gon should look the same age he did when he died, and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is over 20-years-old, so certainly Liam Neeson has aged in that time.
Who knows? Just because we won't get a Qui-Gon Jinn appearance in Obi-Wan now doesn't mean we'll never get one. While the series isn't expected to get a second season anything could happen. And who wouldn't want to see Qui-Gon appear before Obi-Wan and say "Keep on trucking, baby?" I mean, it might seem a little out of character for the Jedi Master, but it would be sort of awesome too.
