A Star Wars game show hosted by Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best is coming to Disney+ called Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge. Since its launch last month, Disney’s first official foray into the world of streaming entertainment has been a notable success, with early subscription numbers soaring.
Having secured numerous popular titles such as The Simpsons and the Star Wars franchise, Disney is already well stocked with options for practically all tastes, with the future looking especially strong as well. The new service’s original programming, which involves such programs as The Mandalorian and The World According to Jeff Goldblum, have already found very receptive audiences, and Disney’s remaining line up, as well as upcoming series, looks to be equally as promising. It is, of course, far too early to suggest that Disney will replace Netflix as the reigning champion of subscription streaming services, but as things currently stand, there is certainly a lot of very strong competition set to challenge Netflix. This has always been Disney’s plan, and it will be very interesting to see how the new service expands in the months and years to come, as well as exactly how their original programming will be received.
While Disney maintains a strong list of current and upcoming titles, the service continues to announce new titles. One of the latest announcements, which comes courtesy of a Disney press release, is Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge, a game show that is set to be hosted by Best. Best is known for a variety of endeavours, but is perhaps most specifically associated with the Star Wars prequels, in which he supplied the voice of Jar Jar Binks. As any Star Wars fan will know, the character has the unfortunate distinction of arguably being the most hated Star Wars character of all.
Regardless of Binks’ controversial status among Star Wars fans, the new game show is aimed specifically at children, and will test contestants’ core Jedi principles of bravery, strength and knowledge. With the aim being to achieve the rank of Jedi Knight, contestants will be challenged by a variety of obstacles in their pursuit to achieve the ultimate Star Wars status. Lucasfilm’s senior director of Online Programming & Content, Mickey Capoferri had the following to say regarding the new game show:
“The various challenges will test a Padawan’s connection to the Force in three locations - a forest planet, on board a Jedi star cruiser, and inside a Jedi Temple - immersing them and the audience in a fun, humorous, and exciting competition.”
Aiding Best in his hosting duties will be a humanoid droid companion, voiced by Mary Holland (Veep). Despite being described as “hilarious” by the Disney press release, there is no mention of what the droid will be called or what sort of connection it may or may not have to the Star Wars canon.
At numerous times throughout the past several years, Disney has given the impression that it is too big to fail. Its ownership of Star Wars has proven immensely successful thus far, and with the release of The Rise of Skywalker just a matter of weeks away, the Mouse House looks set to have another major hit on its hands. Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge already sounds like it has the potential to be extremely popular, particularly among children. That may not necessarily be the case, but officially attaining the rank of Jedi Knight is sure to appeal to a large number of Star Wars fans, both young and old.
Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge will release on Disney+ sometime in 2020.
Source: Disney
