With two seasons of The Mandalorian under its belt and the High Republic era entering full-swing, the Star Wars galaxy is bigger than ever. Part of why this new generation of content is so lauded is due to the great new stories, as well as its willingness to look back at its history and address some of its biggest mistakes in fresh ways. Din Djarin has given formerly one-note races, like the Tuskens, nuance and depth, yet the Gungans remain a galactic joke.
The Gungans as a whole, but Jar Jar especially, garner a harsh but understandable reaction. Lucas had a sensible idea in adding a child-endearing mascot to the franchise, just as he did with the Ewoks in Return of the Jedi. While the Ewoks didn't exactly thrill fans back in the day, they didn't completely alienate the audience, and they were sequestered to one canon film. Plus, time has given them some cushy nostalgia.
It was a lesson the franchise didn't learn from, as Jar Jar and his people were disastrously central to The Phantom Menace. Although his role was pared back for the rest of the trilogy, it made the issue worse. It's Senator Binks that hands Palpatine emergency powers, locking the Sith on his course to imperial domination. For his reward, he's mostly silent during the final film, and his last scene is at Padme Amidala's funeral.
New Star Wars media has provided chances to go in-depth with races previously unexplored. Unfortunately, that's not the problem the Gungans have. Their society and culture received plenty of attention in the prequel films and The Clone Wars, and Jar Jar is revealed to be fairly representative. He's clumsier and more awkward than most of his contemporaries, having been designed for physical comedy, but the long-standing critiques of racially stereotypical behavior are ingrained in the species itself.
There have been a couple of well-executed moments for the Gungans. For instance, Jar Jar gets a bittersweet send-off in the canon novel Aftermath: Empire's End by Chuck Wendig. Here, he's a street clown, exiled again and loathed because he came under suspicion for being an Imperial ally. At first, the scene seems like it's going to be a cruel meta-joke, but Jar Jar gracefully befriends a boy not unlike himself, making the moment endearing.
Meanwhile, The Clone Wars Season 3 episode "Shadow Warrior" is the best showing for the Gungans. Senator Amidala, Anakin and Jar Jar realize the Gungan king is being mind-controlled, so when they stop the plot to hand Naboo to Count Dooku, Jar Jar has to pretend to be king. General Tarpals spots the ruse, but he's more worried about the battle droids and their commander, General Grievous. Tarpals needs Jar Jar to vamp for time while his army deactivates the droids, and this works. By the time Grievous is fed up with Jar Jar and exits his ship, he walks straight into Tarpals and his troops.
However, by the post-Imperial era, Gungans are back to being jokes. The Mandalorian thrives on exploring the details and fixing the mistakes of past Star Wars lore, yet the best it could do for the floppy-eared misfits was a throwaway gag, as Maynard asked if Din Djarin was a Gungan under his mask in Season 1's "The Prisoner."
It's not going to be easy to save the Gungans, but at least they already have some positives, like their loyalty and combat prowess. A future storyteller could also give their negatives more context. It's understandable that George Lucas was frustrated with the Gungan reception, and he also has a point that Star Wars was always meant for all-ages, but Jar Jar's childish innocence was marred with an excess of slapstick. In any case, Jar Jar has moved on, and so has the franchise, so it's a good time for a new Gungan hero to make an appearance, someone to move their society up a few notches in respectability.