Star Wars fans are buzzing with excitement as Ahmed Best, known for his role as Kelleran Beq in The Mandalorian, has recently expressed his fervent desire to star in a Star Wars action film with a John Wick-style edge. This news, rapidly circulating across john wick news outlets and Star Wars communities, stems from recent interviews Best has given commemorating the 25th anniversary of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and his renewed engagement with the franchise.
In a candid interview with ComicBook.com, Best articulated his vision for a project that would truly showcase his character’s capabilities. He playfully suggested that the dynamic lightsaber combat displayed by Kelleran Beq in The Mandalorian merely scratched the surface of his potential, representing a mere “0.01%” of what he is capable of delivering in terms of action and martial arts prowess.
I keep putting this out there. I want to do a Jedi John Wick as Kelleran Beq. And I don’t even need to say any words. I just want to do two hours of lightsabers and people in the way. I really want to do something like that because the fight that I did for Mandalorian is 1/10th of 1% of what I could do. And there’s so much more.
Best’s aspiration for a Jedi John Wick film highlights a perceived gap in the Star Wars cinematic universe: the exploration of diverse martial arts styles. He astutely pointed out that the majority of Jedi fighting styles are rooted in Japanese samurai traditions, often adhering to a familiar archetype. Kelleran Beq, however, breaks this mold by drawing inspiration from Filipino martial arts, a rich and complex system largely unfamiliar to mainstream audiences.
I was just talking about this, the style that influences Kelleran Beq is from Filipino martial arts, and nobody really knows very much how deep those arts are.
Most of the Jedi are Japanese Samurai influenced, but the Filipinos beat the Samurai and they beat the Spanish. The way they move, the style that they move, and the weapons that they use are revolutionary. It’s so much so that a lot of what Bruce Lee does in Jeet Kune Do is influenced by Filipino martial arts. So I really want that to be highlighted through some kind of Jedi story.
Adding another layer to his engagement with the fan community, Comicbook noted their conversation with Ahmed Best occurred at Popup Con in California. This event, initiated by Best himself prior to the pandemic, reflects his deep-seated appreciation for niche businesses and the passionate communities surrounding them. He reminisced about his own experiences growing up in comic book and toy stores, cherishing the unique cultures and personal connections fostered within these spaces.
I always wanted to do something primarily to look at small niche businesses. When it came to entertainment stuff, I grew up in comic book stores all my life. I grew up in toy stores all my life … And I always loved the cultures that were around it.
Every time I would go to a comic book store when I was a kid, it’d be all the same people … You’d have all of these people who were so passionate, not just about what was in the store, but the store itself. It’s something that I always really loved. And when big box stores came in, that kind of disappeared.
The big conventions are cool, but sometimes it gets a little much. Sometimes it’s very difficult to have the stamina to do all of them, and sometimes it gets kind of transactional, more transactional than I like. I kind of like the fact that you get to talk to people. I like the fact that you get to know people and you get a little bit of time.
So I was like, ‘Well, what if there was a con that would just pop up in these very niche mom-and-pop stores?’ Especially things like comic book stores or video stores or Lego stores or toy stores, and it would be the people affiliated with the store, but you can also spend a little bit more time with people coming through, and that’s when Popup Con comes.
Ahmed Best’s enthusiastic return to the Star Wars fold and his innovative ideas are generating considerable excitement. The prospect of a John Wick-inspired Star Wars film starring him as Kelleran Beq is a thrilling concept for many fans. Would you be eager to see Ahmed Best unleash his full potential in a high-octane, lightsaber-wielding action movie set in the Star Wars universe? This is certainly a developing story to watch closely in the realm of john wick news and Star Wars updates.
