By George & Josh Bate
Two years after The Mandalorian Season 3 premiered and flashes of Grogu’s origins were unveiled, Lucasfilm has finally confirmed the full story of Grogu’s rescue from the Jedi Temple and who aided in his escape.
In The Mandalorian Season 3 – Chapter 20: The Foundling (directed by the late Carl Weathers), Kelleran Beq (played by Ahmed Best) rescues Grogu from the Jedi Temple in a harrowing flashback. Beq is aided by Naboo Royal Guards as he boards a Naboo cruiser with Grogu and flies away from Coruscant in the immediate aftermath of Order 66.
Immediately, this flashback raised questions about how the extent to which the people of Naboo were responsible for Grogu’s escape. Did someone prominent – potentially Padmé Amidala – have a hand in Grogu’s rescue? Well, this question is finally answered in the new one-shot comic Jar Jar by Ahmed Best and Marc Guggenheim (spoilers ahead).
In the new comic, Jar Jar teams up with Kelleran Beq on a mission to liberate work slaves from the Republic. The comic concludes with the duo reflecting on their shared distrust of Palpatine. Jar Jar questions Palpatine’s loyalties as he recognizes the Chancellor has assigned an oversight role on the basis that the Gungan will do a poor job. Beq, meanwhile, is suddenly introduced as a Jedi dispatched by the Council to investigate Republic wrong-doings orchestrated by Palpatine.
Jar Jar #1 wraps up with Jar Jar and Kelleran Beq establishing a secret communication channel (using the same kind of “fractal radio” Luthen Rael used in Andor) and committing to advocate for the Unseen in the galaxy, essentially starting their own Rebel cell before the Empire has even become a thing.
In establishing this secret communication channel and Beq and Binks’ alliance, the comic answers a long-standing question regarding Grogu’s origins. Grogu and Beq are assisted by Naboo Royal Guards and board a Naboo cruiser in The Mandalorian Season 3, because they were dispatched by Jar Jar in an effort to save as many Jedi as possible.
Not only that – the ship that Beq and Grogu escape on appears to be The Heyblibber Duck, the Naboo cruiser owned by none other than Jar Jar Binks.
How Grogu gets from Kelleran Beq’s hands to the mercenaries in the first episode of The Mandalorian remains a mystery, however. It’s possible that these mercenaries were hired by Jar Jar to protect Grogu, a decision that makes more sense when considering that the Gungan would likely have been viewed poorly by the Rebel Alliance due to the role he played in Palpatine’s ascension to power.
While there are still gaps in Grogu’s background, the new one-shot Jar Jar Binks comic answers a question that has lingered for two years. Jar Jar Binks, the dopey yet endearing Gungan introduced in The Phantom Menace, played an integral role in Grogu’s escape from the Jedi Temple.