This article contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 3, episode 4.The Mandalorian season 3, episode 4 finally revealed who rescued Grogu from Order 66 - a Jedi Master named Kelleran Beq. When viewers were first introduced to Grogu in The Mandalorian season 1, he immediately became the subject of intense speculation. A survivor of Order 66, he was kept by a mysterious group of mercenaries on the remote planet Arvala-7. But he was the subject of so many mysteries - how he had survived Order 66, how the Empire had obtained his chain-code, and even who was paying mercenaries to keep the Child years after the fall of the Empire.
Star Wars has finally begun to answer these questions, with The Mandalorian season 3, episode 4 featuring a flashback that revealed another Order 66 survivor who rescued Grogu from the Jedi Purge. Surprisingly, though, Kelleran Beq is already an established figure in Star Wars lore - one with a major tie to the prequel trilogy, in that he is played by Ahmed Best, the voice actor who played Jar Jar Binks in the prequels. It's a delightful cameo, one that raises a lot of questions for the future of Star Wars.
Ahmed Best Plays Kelleran Beq In The Mandalorian Season 3
A celebrated voice actor, Ahmed Best provided motion capture and the voice of Jar Jar Binks in the prequels. The experience was not a pleasant one for Best, who became victim of a racist backlash that left him reeling; in fact, Best has admitted he became suicidal. He has remained involved with Star Wars, however, with Lucasfilm hiring him to play Jedi Master Kelleran Beq - a skilled lightsaber combatant who trained Padawans - for the children's game show Star Wars: Jedi Challenge. This series puts young contestants through an obstacle course, simulating Jedi training, with Best playing Beq as the supervisor.
Kelleran Beq Was A Jedi Master Who Supervised Padawans
Nicknamed "The Sabered Hand" because of his skill with a lightsaber, Kelleran Beq was a Jedi Master who supervised the training of Padawans aboard the starship Athylia. In an interview with StarWars.com, Best described him as the Dean of the Jedi Temple, explaining his focus on training the next generation of Jedi. This backstory links to his rescuing a young Jedi from Order 66 in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 4, given he would have established a relationship with Grogu as soon as he arrived at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.
Best was given a great degree of creative freedom designing Kelleran Beq, and was even allowed a purple lightsaber (in honor of Samuel Jackson's Mace Windu). "This is the first Jedi that we’ve seen that is dedicated to just teaching," Best observed when describing how he established the character's traits. "And I wanted to pay homage to some Jedi of the past. There’s a mentorship that Obi-Wan Kenobi has and that Yoda has that are very much a nurturing kind of mentorship and I wanted to see if I could capture that nurturing sense."
Like many key figures in Star Wars, Beq tended to work closely with droids. He was often assisted by the protocol droid AD-3 (voiced by Mary Holland), as well as an astromech droid called LX-R5. Although Kelleran Beq is now confirmed to have survived Order 66, the fate of his two droid friends remains unknown.
Was Kelleran Beq In The Star Wars Prequels? Where He Was Introduced
He may have been inspired by classic Jedi like Obi-Wan and Yoda, but Kelleran Beq did not appear in the prequels themselves. He was introduced in the Star Wars: Jedi Challenge gameshow that launched in June 2020, a series that also featured the surprising return of Sam Witwer as a dark side voice tempting children (Witwer voiced Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels). Still, Beq's role - effectively as Dean of the Jedi Temple - means he would have been known to all the Jedi, and certainly to all recent Padawans.
Why Kelleran Beq Saved Grogu From Order 66
Given Kelleran Beq was particularly skilled with the lightsaber, it makes sense that he would number among Order 66's few survivors. He was proficient with all seven lightsaber forms, including Shien, which encourages practitioners to swat blaster bolts back at enemies who are firing upon a Jedi. Beq's particular focus naturally means he'd strive to help others escape, principally Younglings or Padawans, but it is nevertheless surprising to see him leave the Jedi Temple with just a single charge - Grogu.
This supports a longstanding theory that Grogu is particularly important. Only two other members of Grogu's race have ever been seen in Star Wars canon, Yoda and Yaddle, meaning they may be very rare indeed. It's possible Kelleran Beq believed he was securing the future of an entire species, one with a unique relationship with the Force, explaining why he prioritized getting Grogu to safety rather than returning to the temple to help Padawans such as Reva.
Where Did Kelleran Beq Take Grogu After The Jedi Temple?
As seen in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 4, Kelleran Beq rescued Grogu from Palpatine's Jedi Purge. Surprisingly, he appears to have taken Grogu to a ship maintained by Naboo Royal Guards, perhaps suggesting a link to Padmé Amidala herself. This moves Grogu closer to the heart of the Skywalker saga than ever before, because his survival may well be part of Padmé's own legacy. After Padmé's death, her closest friends are known to have established a rebel cell known as the Amidalans in her honor, and they may well have used their wealth to pay to keep Grogu safe - continuing to do so even after the fall of the Empire, finally explaining who paid for the mercenaries who protected Grogu in The Mandalorian season 1, episode 1.
There is a rich irony to the idea Naboo kept a Jedi safe. Naboo was Palpatine's homeworld as well as Padmé's, and it is frankly delightful to imagine nobles from the Emperor's own homeworld conspiring against him. Kelleran Beq's own fate after the flashback in The Mandalorian season 3, episode 4 is unknown, but he would presumably have been a major target for Darth Vader and his Inquisitors in the Dark Times of the Empire's reign.
Episodes of The Mandalorian release Wednesdays on Disney+.