Loki star Ke Huy Quan first rose to prominence thanks to his childhood role as Short Round in Lucasfilm‘s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Now, the recently-minted Oscar winner wants to join the studio’s flagship franchise: Star Wars.
During an interview with Collider, Quan revealed that he asked Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy to let him venture to the galaxy far, far away. “I love the MCU,” Quan said regarding his time playing O.B. in Marvel Studios’ Loki Season 2 on Disney+. “You know, I was able to connect with my Indiana Jones family during the award season. And, as you know, Kathleen Kennedy was the producer … And she’s the head of Lucasfilm now. I did go up to her and I said, ‘Kathy, I would love to join the Star Wars family.’ That’s another wish list of mine. But honestly, I’ve been very lucky. I’ve been very lucky.”
Star Wars and Indiana Jones go hand in hand
It’s not exactly uncommon for Lucasfilm’s two biggest franchises to share actors. After all, Indiana Jones himself is played by Harrison Ford, who famously starred as Han Solo in the Star Wars saga. A number of other performers have appeared in both franchises as well — including Mads Mikkelsen and Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Furthermore, while the jury is out on Indiana Jones’ future at the moment, numerous Star Wars projects are currently in the works at Lucasfilm. As far as the small screen is concerned, live-action series like Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, The Acolyte, The Mandalorian Season 4, and Andor Season 2 are all coming down the pipeline for Disney+.
Lucasfilm is also developing several new Star Wars feature films. The three big-screen projects that appear to be the highest priority for the studio are Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker sequel, Dave Filoni’s Mando-Verse finale, and James Mangold’s movie about the dawn of the Jedi. (That last one is especially noteworthy, seeing as how Mangold recently helmed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.) Meanwhile, Taika Waititi and Shawn Levy are developing Star Wars movies of their own. There are also still tentative plans for Star Wars: The Last Jedi writer-director Rian Johnson to helm a new trilogy.
Ke Huy Quan’s big return to Hollywood
As previously mentioned, a 12-year-old Quan made his big-screen debut as Short Round in 1984’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. One year later, he co-starred as Richard “Data” Wang in Richard Donner’s The Goonies. Quan appeared in several other films and television shows over the years. However, he eventually retired from acting after finding it increasingly difficult to get work as an adult. The 2002 Hong Kong film Second Time Around was his final on-screen role for nearly 20 years.
Quan finally returned to acting via Netflix’s 2021 Goonies-esque adventure film Finding ‘Ohana. One year later, he starred opposite Michelle Yeoh in the critically-acclaimed Everything Everywhere All at Once. Quan’s performance as Waymond Wang in the film earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
This year, Quan joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Ouroboros (aka O.B.) in the aforementioned second season of Loki. He also had a major role in fellow Disney+ series American Born Chinese, an adaptation of the 2006 graphic novel of the same name.
