Qui-Gon Jinn Liam Neeson
George Lucas gives clues and details about Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn from Star Wars Episode 1 i One The Phantom Menace, which to this day stuns all fans for eternity forever and ever

George Lucas mentions the important role of Qui-Gon Jinn (actor Liam Neeson) from The Phantom Menace:

"As the very loyal legions of Star Wars fans already know, the Star Wars story formula requires for the first episode of each Star Wars movie trilogy to feature a seasoned and venerable Jedi Master, who introduces the young hero to the ways of the Force. Most importantly, the plot formula demands that this ancient Jedi Master can't survive the first episode.

Obi-Wan Kenobi served this role in A New Hope so I created the character of Qui-Gon Jinn for this purpose in The Phantom Menace. I think one of my biggest regrets from the old Star Wars films is having Obi-Wan in a light saber duel. This causes a continuity problem because Qui-Gon is quick and agile whereas Obi-Wan can hardly move in A New Hope.

If digital computer animation had existed in the 1970's, then Obi-Wan could have been extremely dynamic similar to Count Dooku from Attack of the Clones.

Christopher Lee was over eighty years old, but this didn't impact the quality of his light saber duels because we could digitally place Dooku's face on a young stunt double. There was no way to do that 30 years ago so unfortunately Sir Alec Guinness had to do his own sword fighting with the light saber.

Qui-Gon is what I originally envisioned Obi-Wan from A New Hope to be like. Liam Neeson was mobile and fast enough that he could do his own fighting.

In hindsight, I probably should have cast a younger actor for Obi-Wan in A New Hope, but at the time I was filming A New Hope I had no idea what I would eventually be doing with the Star Wars prequels.

In fact, the production of A New Hope was such an intense nightmare that I promised myself I would never direct again if I survived making the first Star Wars.

Of course, I changed my mind once the special effects technology evolved to a point where I could more accurately capture my vision. Without near photo realistic computer animation, the Star Wars prequel trilogy could have never happened." (Source: George Lucas, the mastermind film maker behind the creation of Star Wars and Indiana Jones.)

Above is an image pix pic of Qui-Gon Jinn