Star Wars: Jedi Temple Challenge, a game show designed for children, was brought to life by Lucasfilm. The program premiered on the Star Wars Kids website and its corresponding YouTube channel on June 10, 2020. In this series, young contestants navigate a variety of challenges as part of a Jedi training regimen, which evaluates their mastery of the core Jedi values: strength, knowledge, and courage. Ahmed Best serves as the host, embodying the character of Jedi Master Kelleran Beq, who mentors the participants. Accompanying Best is his droid companion, AD-3, whose voice is provided by Mary Holland.
The concept for Jedi Temple Challenge originated from Lucasfilm employees Steve Blank, Scott Bromley, and Mike Capoferri. During an appearance on The Star Wars Show, Ahmed Best, a co-star, revealed that Blank, Bromley, and Capoferri allowed him significant creative control in shaping the character of Jedi Master Kelleran Beq, including his background, mannerisms, and the color of his lightsaber. Best verified that Master Beq had a familial connection to Achk Med-Beq, a character he briefly portrayed in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones.
The voice of Master Beq's droid companion AD-3 was supplied by co-star Mary Holland, while Gordon Tarpley, a veteran of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre and a droid builder and artist, delivered the character's physical performance. Holland described her character's primary function as "giving them someone who isn't so impressed by their actions that they lose all touch with reality and can't consider different viewpoints." Best further explained that AD-3's role was to be a friend to Master Beq, offering honest feedback "without any reverential fear or shyness."
According to Anthony Carboni, the host of The Star Wars Show, and Kristin Baver, a writer for Lucasfilm, Jedi Temple Challenge took inspiration from the "large-scale" children's game shows popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The series was recorded on a soundstage in Los Angeles. Each episode was structured around three rounds, where contestants navigated obstacle courses set in a simulated forest to collect lightsaber components, participated in a quiz within a starship setting, and persevered through another series of obstacle courses to retrieve kyber crystals from a Jedi Temple.
Ryan Brett Puckett, the production designer, created the set for the Jedi spaceship Athylia. Puckett integrated buttons and switches from various Star Wars ship sets, including the hyperspace levers from the Millennium Falcon set used during the making of Solo: A Star Wars Story. Best noted that the show's sets were crafted with the same meticulous attention to detail as those used in Star Wars films. Holland also mentioned that the show's production design was intended to make the actors feel as if they were stepping onto an alien world.
The protocol droid AD-3 and the astromech droid LX-R5, Master Beq's droid companions, were operated by Michael McMaster and Gordon Tarpley, respectively. Tarpley provided AD-3's physical performance, while Holland delivered the droid's live vocals and commentary from a control room on the soundstage. Tarpley and Holland collaborated to synchronize Tarpley's live performance with Holland's voice acting. Cavan Scott, the author, wrote the short stories narrated by AD-3 in each episode, incorporating characters from The Star Wars Show YouTube series, including mouse droid CH-33Z and Kevin the Ewok. Sam Witwer, who previously voiced Maul in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, also provided the voice of a dark-side entity that tempted contestants in the Jedi Temple round. David W. Collins, the sound editor, explained that Witwer's dark-side voice was designed to move around in both "stereo and surround sound to convey his non-corporeal, spirit-like nature, and make him sound elsewhere, elusive."
The Padawans' outfits were inspired by the costume of Jedi apprentice Nedriss Narr, a character featured in the Disneyland stage show Jedi Training: Trials of the Temple. The Padawans' training sabers were also based on the Padawans' wooden sabers from The Clone Wars episode "A Test of Strength."
On May 27, 2020, the show's initial trailer was launched on the Star Wars Kids YouTube channel and The Star Wars Show. Ahmed Best and Mary Holland, the co-hosts who portrayed Master Kelleran Beq and his droid companion AD-3, also promoted the show during an interview with Anthony Carboni, the host of The Star Wars Show. During the interview, Best affirmed that a central theme of the show was encouraging children to achieve success and that setbacks could offer children a chance to re-evaluate and practice until they were prepared to advance.
The first two episodes of Jedi Temple Challenge were originally scheduled to debut on the Star Wars Kids website and YouTube channel on June 3, 2020. The series is composed of ten episodes. However, Best later announced in an Instagram post that the series' release had been postponed until June 10 due to the George Floyd protests. Kristin Baver, a staff writer for StarWars.com, also promoted the series in an article published on June 10.