Among the most famous characters Samuel L. Jackson has played over the decades are Mace Windu in the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy and Ray Arnold in Jurassic Park. These two also share something in common: they both lost extremities/limbs. Within their respective fictional worlds, Mace and Ray are both considered dead (with the latter perishing offscreen), but Jackson has envisioned different fates for them in his head.
Samuel L. Jackson shared these thoughts while speaking with Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz in front of a live audience, saying how he sees Mace Windu and Ray Arnold as still being out “somewhere” despite lacking key appendages. You can watch his full response below:
Where the hell is Mace Windu?! Me & @SamuelLJackson want to know. @BryceDHoward, help us out! Put him in the game! pic.twitter.com/WfkVvgah8BMarch 15, 2022
Of the two characters, I’m more inclined to consider Mace Windu still being alive not only because. As Samuel L. Jackson pointed out, there’s a history of people who lost hands returning in the Star Wars universe, but Mace was a Jedi Master, so he may have been still been powerful enough to survive being electrocuted and tossed out a window by Darth Sidious in Revenge of the Sith. In Ray Arnold’s case, even on the off chance he survived having his arm being bitten off by a raptor, the chances of him taming one of these raptors and riding around on it, rather than simply devoured by another dinosaur, are extremely slim.
Given the direction the Jurassic Park franchise has headed down, not to mention that the island where the “Hold onto your butts!”-uttering Ray Arnold met his presumed demise being destroyed by a volcanic eruption, fans of the dinosaur-packed franchise probably shouldn’t get their hopes up about seeing him again. However, Samuel L. Jackson has legitimately expressed interest in reprising Mace Windu, and that wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to happen. After all, we saw in The Book of Boba Fett how the title character survived the Sarlacc Pit, so why couldn’t a similar twist happens with the Jedi who wielded a purple lightsaber on Jackson’s request.
Samuel L. Jackson even mentioned in this interview that he’s talked with Bryce Dallas Howard, who’s directed episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, about if she could put the gears in motion for a one-handed Mace Windu to return. It’s unclear if she has enough pull at Lucasfilm to make that happen, but Jackson clearly wants back in on the Star Wars action. Even though he’s busy with all sorts of other projects these days, including still playing Nick Fury in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he’s willing to make the time to revisit a galaxy far, far away.
Should it be announced we’ll see of Samuel L. Jackson in either the Star Wars or the Jurassic Park franchises, CinemaBlend will pass along that news. In the meantime, the actor can currently be seen leading the Apple TV+ miniseries The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, and he’ll reprise Nick Fury in The Marvels and Disney+’s Secret Invasion.