Star Wars fans losing their minds over Jar Jar Binks' surprise return

Believe it or not, but Star Wars is bringing back Jar Jar Binks, and certainly not in the way you would expect.

Jar Jar Binks has been a source of ridicule amongst Star Wars fans since his original debut in The Phantom Menace. Critics of the character considered him to be too silly, being a distraction from the story in an effort to entertain children.

Given the backlash to the character, it was widely speculated this was the reason his role was severely reduced in The Phantom Menace's two sequels.

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Still, Jar Jar has turned up in several other media since then, including The Clone Wars TV series and several books.

Now, Jar Jar Binks is returning in the form of a new Fortnite collaboration that sees "Darth Jar Jar" join in the new Star Wars season.

In the new "Galactic Battle" event being held in Fortnite, the game will be bringing back beloved characters from the Star Wars universe.

Characters like Mace Windu can be bought via the in-game shop, while others such as Palpatine are earned as part of the battle pass.

It's currently unknown where Darth Jar Jar will be available, or if he's even going to be a skin you can equip. But the event will occur from 2nd May, so we'll know more then.

Darth Jar Jar is an in-joke among the Star Wars community that originated with a funny Robot Chicken sketch from 2010.

Later, a post speculating that Jar Jar was originally going to be a major twist villain was published to the official Star Wars Reddit page, which turned the joke into a legitimate fan theory.

The theory examines much of Jar Jar's characterisation throughout The Phantom Menace, while also seeking to explain why Dooku felt shoehorned into Attack of the Clones as a potential Jar Jar replacement.

It gained enough traction that even Jar Jar actor Ahmed Best hinted this was the original plan George Lucas had for the character before being displaced from the story due to the backlash.

"There is a lot about [the theory] that is true, there are some things about it that are not true," Best said in a YouTube interview from 2016. "Could Jar Jar have evolved into that? I think the answer is yes."

Fortnite's Galactic Battle event runs from 2nd May across all platforms.