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Since the Phantom Menace was released in 1999, Jar Jar Binks has been almost universally hated by audiences.

Fast forward to 2008, Star Wars: Clone Wars season 1 airs, and oddly Jar Jar Binks is taking big screen time in episodes such as Bombad Jedi and The Gungan General.

My question is, why? Please, why? Why did the writers of Star Wars: Clone Wars include such an unpopular character?

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    I'm guessing it was pity. – Jane S Feb 27 '16 at 12:09
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    A children's character in a children's show... – user31178 Feb 27 '16 at 14:37
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    In my opinion, SW:TCW "fixes" things that didn't work or make sense in the prequels - midicholorians are made more spiritual and less scientific, Padme and Annakin's relationship is made more believable, Annakin's fall to darkness becomes less drastic, etc. Perhaps the most impressive thing they show did was make Jar-Jar a halfway decent character. – Rogue Jedi Feb 27 '16 at 14:45
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    Also I think Lucas was still involved at an executive producer type level so he may have had some say as well – NKCampbell Feb 27 '16 at 15:45
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    Jar Jar Binks has been almost universally hated - I'm not sure that's true. My children liked him, and I suspect most other children did too. It might not even be an age thing so much as a matter of whether you were a fan of the original trilogy or not. – Harry Johnston Feb 27 '16 at 22:18
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Showrunner Dave Filoni discussed this in an interview with IGN. The very short answer is that the show was intended to be fun and accessible for all of Star Wars' fans, including those small number of fans (no, seriously. They do exist) who actually quite like Jar Jar.

But I think in the end, with 100 episodes of Clone Wars, no matter what type of Star Wars fan you are -- and I think that’s something a lot of people miss; there are a lot of types of Star Wars fans, and by now they want different things out of the saga. Some people want it to be like A New Hope, some people want it to be very dark. Some people want it to not be about main characters and about side characters. You know, everybody has a different need. Clone Wars, by the nature of the way George had to tell the stories, covers a lot of that. So if you just like bounty hunters, we’ve got that. If you just like Sith Lords fighting Sith Lords, we’ve got that. Sith Lords fighting Jedi, we’ve got that. Force gods that you never thought of, we’ve got that. Just about R2-D2 and C-3PO, got that. If you are a holdout Jar Jar Binks lover, we’ve got that. A whole range of clone people, we’ve got that. There was something to satisfy everybody in the end.

Additionally, in the Bombad Jedi featurette on Starwars.com, Filoni explicitly states that George Lucas personally insisted on Jar Jar's inclusion.

Filoni: Early on, George expressed an interest that because we're in this time period, the Clone Wars, that he wanted to see Jar Jar again and Henry Gilroy and I felt that perhaps an animated venue, like The Clone Wars is gonna fit really well for our friend, Jar Jar.

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    JMO, but the writing on Clone Wars is better than anything in the prequels. Lucas really should have done a rewrite before releasing I - III, or at least get some other writers involved. One example is the very first episode, where Yoda can see distinct personalities among clones, which are assumed to be identical by everyone: Yoda: Your helmets, remove them. Your faces I wish to see. Clone: There's not much to look at here sir. We all share the same face. Yoda: Deceive you, eyes can. – CigarDoug Feb 27 '16 at 20:46
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"Jar Jar Binks has been almost universally hated by audiences."

I recommend watching "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 20 years later". In there you can find that Jar Jar is quite cherished by a long chunk of SW fans, the fans that were kids (12 at most) when Ep I came out.

So Filoni is aware of that chunk and he gave Jar Jar some redemption on those chapters.

Its unfortunate that as Jar Jar received so much hate we weren't given the chance to see his character evolve and have more focus (Jar Jar growing from outcast to senator for Naboo was quite a story. And then him asking for emergency powers for Palpatine was genius.). So I thank the Clone Wars for giving him some screen time.

So that's why.

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