The Surprising Star Wars Character That Got More Screentime Than Yoda In The Prequels

From his very first appearance in "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back," Grandmaster Yoda has been one of the franchise's most iconic characters. Though he primarily became famous for his time in the original trilogy, where he mentored Luke Skywalker in the ways of the force, he is also one of the many "Star Wars" characters who received new life in the prequel films. There, fans got to see the little green goblin do something more than dispense platitudes from the back of his students. With his pocket-sized lightsaber and high-flying swordplay, Yoda became just as much of an action hero as he was a wise old sage.

But while the prequels did, in fact, expand on one of the most popular characters in "Star Wars" history, they also gave him the short end of the stick in some rather key ways. He received less screen time than many other characters who were present in both the prequel and original trilogies. 

More surprisingly, he has less screen time than a character that only appeared in one movie. But who, of all "Star Wars" one-offs, would ever be able to outshine what George Lucas once called "the illegitimate child of Kermit and Miss Piggy?"

Surprisingly, one of the characters with more screen time than our froggy friend is none other than Qui-Gon Jinn, the master of Obi-Wan Kenobi in "The Phantom Menace." 

For "Star Wars" fans, this may be unsurprising. Qui-Gon is practically the protagonist of "The Phantom Menace," in many regards, whereas Yoda merely plays a supporting role in almost every one of his appearances. And while the latter does technically have more screen time if you account for his appearances in the other two trilogies (as well as the mountains of expanded universe content), he simply appears less throughout the prequels.

The difference in screen time isn't small, either. One dedicated fan on the official "Star Wars" subreddit posted a handy infographic breaking down the total screen time of certain characters. In total, Qui-Gon Jinn spends 35 minutes and 30 seconds on camera. Meanwhile, Yoda is only on camera for approximately 21-25. Not counting the short few minutes he spent on screen in "The Phantom Menace," Yoda is measured by the Reddit user as having only 21 minutes and 30 seconds of screen time in the prequel trilogy. No matter which way you slice it, however, Qui-Gon Jinn gets at least 10 more minutes of screen time in a single film than Yoda gets across three. Now, imagine how much bigger that difference would be if Darth Maul didn't show up to make a Qui-Gon kebab.