This is truly the wildest time to be a Star Wars fan. Not necessarily the best, but the wildest. While we wait for the saga to conquer cinema again, Disney Plus is doing an exemplary job of expanding the universe on the small screen with much reverence to the mythos. And then there’s LEGO Star Wars, just having a blast making memes and fandom in-jokes canon.
If that sounds like a disparaging comment, just know that it really, really is not. If you’ve not been watching Disney’s LEGO Star Wars specials over the past few years, you’ve been missing out, as they have uniformally been a blast. The Holiday Special, for example, was a time-travelling Avengers: Endgame-esque epic sequel to The Rise of Skywalker that gave us the gift of Poe Dameron in a Christmas jumper.
Yet somehow Disney, LEGO, and Lucasfilm are now topping even that with the upcoming LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy, which genuinely could be the most truly off-the-wall insane slice of Star Wars media since the OG live-action Holiday Special. Everyone’s talking about the reveal of Darth Jar-Jar, but let’s not overlook the special’s other unexpected star. Say hello to Jedi Bob!
Who is Jedi Bob in Star Wars lore?
Just like Darth Jar-Jar, Jedi Bob is another creation of the Star Wars fandom that we never expected to ever make it into an official Lucasfilm production.
In the Rebuild the Galaxy teaser trailer, a Jedi who may be unfamiliar to viewers serves as the narrator, warning that space and time are falling apart and that “the building blocks of the galaxy are getting mixed up.” This is what causes the drastic changes to the timeline that result in Ewok bounty hunters and Naboo’s most notorious citizen becoming a Sith lord. But who is the Jedi at the heart of the story?
Jedi Bob originally debuted as an unidentified Jedi minifig that came with 2002’s LEGO Star Wars Republic gunship set. Star Wars fans being the massive nerds they are, they felt the little guy needed a name and the fandom came to refer to him as “Jedi Bob” or simply “Bob.” Hilariously, his name was ultimately made LEGO Star Wars canon in 2009’s LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary. Now, over 20 years on from his inauspicious beginnings, Jedi Bob has been made screen canon too, with actor/comedian Bobby Moynihan perfectly cast as his near-namesake.
Darth Jar-Jar, Jedi Bob… What’s next, a cameo from Glup Sh*tto?! We’ll find out when LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy premieres on Disney Plus come Sep. 13.
