Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best says kids have been 'left out' of new 'Star Wars' movies

Ahmed Best has said he believes that children have been “left out” of the Disney era Star Wars movies and that they are now “very much for the millennials and gen-Xers like myself”.

The actor provided the voice and motion capture for Jar Jar Binks — perhaps the most controversial character in Star Wars history.

In an interview with YouTuber Jamie Stangroom, the 46-year-old star said “there isn’t very much for the kids” in the post-Disney Star Wars franchise.

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He said movies including Rogue One and The Rise of Skywalker have “skewed older” than the adventures in which he appeared, like 1999’s The Phantom Menace.

“It’s very much for the millennials and gen-Xers like myself,” Best said.

He added: “Kids are kind of left out of these, and the kids have to go to the animated series in order to get their dose of Star Wars.”

The star also said original Star Wars creator George Lucas was a firm believer in the importance of the series’ young audience.

Best added: “George was always about the kids and he used to say that, if you get the kids, you have fans for the next 20 years.

“He was very much about kids. This idea that the movies are for adults is a very new thing, to be honest.”

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The new Star Wars trilogy movies have each made more than a billion dollars at the global box office, with last year’s finale The Rise of Skywalker earning $1.07bn (£863m).

Fans, however, have been divided on the merits of the films, with The Rise of Skywalker and 2017’s The Last Jedi both disliked by sections of the fan base.

Best, meanwhile, found himself at the centre of an enormous hate campaign in the wake of his work as Jar Jar, with the character attracting the bulk of fan’s ire.

In 2018, he revealed that the abuse got so serious that he had received death threats and contemplated suicide.

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Best has since said that it is “virtually impossible” for a Star Wars movie to please all of the many disparate sections of the fan community.

He added: “We’re all coming together and making this thing, and then we put it out there and you have no control of what it’s going to be when it goes out there, and everybody’s gaze is going to be different.

“The one thing about the Star Wars universe that no other universe has is, everyone takes it personally.”

Best is set to make his return to the Star Wars franchise for the Disney+ game show Jedi Temple Challenge.