Well, it was fun while it lasted, but that conspiracy theory about Jar Jar Binks actually being an evil Sith lord -- and possibly the big bad villain of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" -- has officially been debunked: Producer Kathleen Kennedy has confirmed that the character will not make an appearance in the new film.

Kennedy made the announcement on Sunday during a press conference and panel discussion in Los Angeles on Sunday, moderated by Mindy Kaling. Kaling, citing filmmakers' secretiveness surrounding "The Force Awakens," asked Kennedy to tell her instead what wasn't in the flick.

"Jar Jar is not in the movie," Kennedy said, a response that Entertainment Weekly says elicited "hoots from the audience."

We assume those were hoots of joy, and it's hard to disagree with that reaction, since Jar Jar was far and away the worst part of the clunky prequel trilogy. But we'd recently revisited our opinion on the over-the-top, slapsticky character, thanks to an insanely-detailed fan theory about the Gungan posed by a Redditor, who claimed that the prequels had actually proven that Jar Jar was not just bumbling comic relief, but was in fact a powerful user of the Force, and perhaps a co-conspirator with Emperor Palpatine. Meesa was intrigued, to say the least.

The Redditor's best guess was that Jar Jar would be revealed to be the mysterious new villain Supreme Leader Snoke, played by Andy Serkis in "The Force Awakens." But alas, that idea -- however crazy-yet-fun it seemed to be -- is now dead. We can't say we're surprised, and honestly, we don't even think the original Redditor was super excited to see Jar Jar again. But it's too bad that such a well thought out theory has been laid to waste.

Of course, that makes room for plenty more speculation about the film, and there's already been lots. We have less than two weeks to wait before all our questions will be answered.

"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" hits theaters on December 18.



Photo credit: StarWars.com