Shang-Chi star Simu Liu explains why Qui-Gon Jinn is his favorite Jedi in Star Wars. Liu is himself a bona fide action star after heading up the recent MCU blockbuster Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Asian cinema of course was a huge influence on Shang-Chi and its truly impressive action set pieces, not to mention the mythology underlying the entire story. When it comes to Asian-derived mythology however, nothing in pop culture really compares to Star Wars, George Lucas’ universe inspired largely by the samurai movies of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa (among many other things). Indeed the Jedi Order are nothing if not samurai warriors bound by a code, though over the course of the Star Wars saga the actual workings of that code may have occasionally become a little fuzzy.
The nature of the Jedi Order is indeed something the aforementioned Shang-Chi star Liu has obviously thought a lot about. In a recent appearance on the popular First We Feast show Hot Ones, noted Star Wars fanatic Liu was asked to name his favorite Jedi and gave an answer that might be somewhat controversial in some circles. Liu then proceeded to go on a diatribe breaking down everything he thinks is wrong with the Jedi and why his personal favorite Jedi represents a refreshing break from the dubious ways of the Jedi Council:
It's got to be Qui-Gon Jinn. I feel like, look I don’t know how deep you are in Star Wars. All right so, this whole idea of the Jedi during the Old Republic, just feels like if you you look at those [Jedi] Council scenes where everyone's so stuck up. They're all just like, “These are the rules. We don't ever break the rules.” And by the way very hypocritical too because the Jedi are supposed to not want power. They're like, “We have no thirst for power.” And there's literally a Council that oversees everything. That's like in the highest part of Coruscant. So anyway I just love that Qui-Gon is a bit of a maverick. He doesn't care. He's like, “Sorry I'm gonna train this kid.” And ultimately that kid is gonna grow up to become Darth Vader and overthrow the entire Republic. But still you've got to admire the guy that can see through the hypocrisy of the Jedi Order. They think they're the good guys. They're like, “Oh yeah we're so good.” But really they’re the instruments of their own demise in a way.
It’s clear from that breakdown that Liu is a massive Star Wars fan who has spent many an hour pondering the way the prequel trilogy portrayed the Jedi and particularly the workings of the Jedi Council. Indeed, some would take Liu’s hypocrisy argument even further and state that from a certain point of view, the Jedi are actually the villains of the prequel trilogy and in many ways are worse than outright evil organizations like the Empire and the First Order. Overall though, Liu just seems to admire Qui-Gon’s spirit as he set out to train young Anakin Skywalker in direct defiance of the wishes of the rest of the Jedi. The fact that this turned out to be a major miscalculation with huge and destructive consequences for the galaxy doesn’t seem to bother Liu all that much.
Of course Liu himself knows all about taking on massive responsibilities after playing Shang-Chi, a character ultimately charged with protecting all of Earth from the demonic Dweller-In-Darkness. When it comes to maverick tendencies, there may in fact be some similarities between Qui-Gon and Shang-Chi, though ultimately both men are bound by a sense of duty as well. And of course Shang-Chi got to survive his adventure, while Qui-Gon was written out of Star Wars after his famous duel with Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace.
Source: First We Feast/YouTube