Bingowings said:
He said at the time that it was deliberate decision so I assume that Neeson's reluctance to return complicated his grand plan, just as DiCaprio's reluctance to join on did.
Assuming there was a grand plan.
I find it hard to believe that Jar-Jar wasn't going to play a greater role in the series until his near universal unpopularity forced Lucas to ditch him.
There are so many circles to square in the PT but that's part of the fun, there's the challenge.
If Jar-Jar could be made to work with re-dubbing it might be worth replacing Threepio with the new improved version.
In some ways spreading Jar-Jar about may be more radical than taking him out.
Oh, trust me on this: there was NO grand plan. There was barely a sketch, let alone a master story arc to cover three movies.
Basically, Lucas knew how the story began with Obi-Wan(but then it was Qui-Gon at the last minute) finding Anakin and how it ended with Mannakin getting the helmet put on. That's why so much of the prequels ends up as almost inconsequential to the overall story.
No, no. No yellow notepad full of story outlines for this one. Not at all.