Over the years, the Star Wars movies and TV shows have introduced millions to some of the best female characters in sci-fi with the likes of Princess Leia and Padmé Amidala, both of whom have been featured in multiple movies and have had nearly every aspect of their story told. In addition to those two, however, there are multiple other female heroes and villains that could be used more, either by carrying their own story or showing up in any of the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows.

Though Rey will soon return to the Star Wars universe as a Jedi Master, there are quite a few female characters (on both sides of the Force) who could be used more, be it in a prequel movie or show for characters who have passed away or a continuation of their respective stories. Here are eight female Star Wars characters who would be perfect for such a project… 

Jyn Erso

Technically, Jyn Erso (Felicity Jones) died during the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story ending, but that doesn’t mean her story has to end. Casian Andor (Diego Luna) was also vaporized when the Death Star destroyed Scarif at the end of the 2016 movie, but his character returned with his own Disney+ series. We’re all excited for the upcoming Andor Season 2, but wouldn’t it be awesome for Jyn to receive something similar?

In the past, Felicity Jones has opened up about wanting to reprise the character, offering up ideas like reincarnation, but a possible movie or show could focus on Jyn’s childhood or upbringing by Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker). Watching a young, and on-the-run future member of the Rebel Alliance could be a lot of fun and also fill in the cracks of her already great story. 

Maz Kanata 

Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o) is another one of those Star Wars characters who, despite only having a few minutes of screentime, makes an instant impact and leaves you wanting more of their story. After being introduced in Star Wars: The Force Awakens as a 1,000-year-old former pirate and smuggler who helps set Rey on her path to becoming a Jedi, Maz doesn’t have too many big moments in the rest of the sequel trilogy.

Though there has long been speculation that Maz (or a character looking strikingly similar to her) could be spotted in the original Star Wars movies, as well as in the prequels, there’s just so much we don’t know about the mysterious alien creature. It would be great to go back and see some of Maz’s pirate adventures or see how she came into possession of Luke’s original lightsaber.

Fennec Shand

Star Wars has given us some of the most iconic bounty hunters, like Boba Fett, Mando, and Cade Bane, to name a few. Another great addition to that list is Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), a talented bounty hunter who first showed up as a minor antagonist in The Mandalorian Season 1 before becoming one of the main characters in The Book of Boba Fett and Star Wars: The Bad Batch animated series.

You could argue that Fennec has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, but she often feels like a secondary character opposed to the star of her own story. What could work is an anthology series featuring live-action shorts about various characters in the Star Wars universe, which could give the bounty hunter a platform to show more of her history between The Bad Batch and The Mandalorian. 

Val 

Though Solo: A Star Wars Story probably isn’t going to be at the top of anyone’s Star Wars movie rankings, there were a lot of things from Ron Howard’s 2018 movie that stood out, including Thandiwe Newton’s Val, a no-nonsense outlaw and Tobias Beckett’s (Woody Harrelson) wife and fellow criminal. Val played a large role in the early goings of the movie before she ultimately sacrificed herself to help Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and company, though the actress has long had the opinion that killing the character was a mistake.

Even Solo’s co-writer, Jon Kasdan, has implied that Val got the shaft in the anthology film. So, this leaves the door wide open for a movie or show based on Val’s life up until the point of her passing. It could further explore her relationship with Beckett, flesh out her story prior to joining his crew, or anything else. 

Reva Sevander

The Obi-Wan Kenobi finale left us with questions, with two of the most pressing concerning the past and future of Reva Sevander (Moses Ingram), the Force-sensitive inquisitor whose fate was left up in the air after backing down from killing a young Luke Skywalker. One of the most interesting and tragic characters of the entire series (remember, she survived Order 66 at the Jedi Temple as a young padawan), and so there is still a lot of story worth exploring.

This is another example of a character whose story could be tackled in a variety of ways, either as a prequel or sequel, or something that combines elements of both to shed light on her past, present, and future. With Moses Ingram being a star on the rise, it just makes perfect sense.

Captain Phasma

One of the many complaints brought after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the treatment of Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie) the shock trooper who had multiple run-ins with Finn (John Boyega) in the first two installments of the sequel trilogy. The masked antagonist with a chromed-out suit was one of the more fascinating characters in the more recent Star Wars movies, which makes her lack of screen-time all the more upsetting. 

Though her story was fleshed out in Delilah S. Dawson’s 2017 novel Star Wars: Phasma, as well as a short comic run, it would be great to see the First Order figure show up on the big screen once more, and it sounds like the actress is down to return. Come on, Disney, make it happen! 

Jannah 

Jannah (Naomi Ackie) was one of the main freedom fighters, and former First Order stormtroopers, introduced in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, helping lead the ground offensive in the Battle of Exegol. We last saw Jannah in the final minutes of the movie, where she was planning her next steps while implying she was the daughter of Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams).

Obviously, an exploration of that theory could make for a great father-daughter adventure story in the galaxy far, far away, but Jannah’s history with the First Order and her desertion could also make for a great story that provides more insight into the inner workings of the Empire’s successor.

Aayla Secura

Though she could be viewed as one of the Jedi Order’s most skilled fighters, Aayla Secura is a character that has never really gotten the attention she deserves in the various Star Wars movies and shows that have been released since her on-screen debut in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones. She was one of the many Jedi killed during the execution of Order 66, but there’s still plenty of story from her life up to that fateful moment that could be explored.

With Disney+’s Ahsoka coming out in August, it would be great to see the character return in the form of a Force ghost or in flashbacks featuring the Jedi Knight interacting with Rosario Dawson’s titular character. 

Only time will tell if any of these female Star Wars characters will ever be used more, but if it does happen, you’ll be able to watch it all go down with a Disney+ subscription, where the entire franchise is streaming.

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Star Wars' Sequel Trilogy is arguably the most polarizing trilogy of the franchise. It's so polarizing that it's a legitimate question when, if ever, it will get revisited on the big screen. I have faith that day will come, and when it does, there are some supporting characters I'd like to see return as well. 

Of course, not every supporting character can have their story expanded past the Sequel Trilogy. Some can, and we get into all types of supporting characters below; we just got the slightest amount of information on these individuals when there was so much more to give. Let's see more of these characters, if only to get some closure in some cases because there's real potential for good stories here. 

Allegiant General Pryde

Allegiant General Pryde is a Sequel Trilogy character who flourished just a bit too late. He gained control of the First Order in just enough time for the final battle on Exegol, and then promptly died in the encounter. His grand moment will live on as a failure, but what about everything that led up it?

Pryde didn’t just randomly assume a high level of command in the First Order by being lucky, though we haven’t seen that rise in the ranks just yet. Pryde has the potential to be a villain in some Star Wars spinoff project or a key player in other Star Wars stories predating his death. I’m sure he’ll be back, but when that happens is unclear. 

Zorii Bliss

For being the leader of the Spice Runners of Kijimi, Zorii Bliss didn’t get a lot of love in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Part of that feels linked to the fact she arrived so late in the trilogy, which left little time to tell her story, let alone make people care. People just marveled at the armor, and then when she wasn’t a major part of the adventure, moved on without much to wonder about further. 

The thing is, I’m still thinking about Zorii Bliss and what her life is like in the post-First Order era. Did sparks fly between her and Poe Dameron with the war over, or did they go their separate ways? Let's find out!

Maz Kanata

Of the characters most likely to get follow-up adventures and meaningful inclusion into works that follow the Sequel Trilogy, Maz Kanata seems like the most likely. The mysterious Force-sensitive humanoid gave some great help to the Resistance across the Sequel Trilogy, but it always seemed like there was more to her story than Star Wars presented. 

Star Wars fans still don’t know the species of Maz Kanata, which only furthers the intrigue surrounding her character. She’s 1,000 years old, which makes her older than Yoda and somehow still alive in the Sequel Trilogy. That alone warrants some kind of investigation, but also opens her up for appearances in other eras, like the Prequel Trilogy, The High Republic and so on. It’s easy to see where her story can expand, but will Star Wars do it?

The Knights Of Ren

Star Wars had fans hyped with The Knights Of Ren, but for some strange reason, Kylo Ren’s elite fighting force of disciples never got their time to truly shine on the big screen. Writers made efforts to try and strengthen their role in the Sequel Trilogy through supplemental material, but none of it quite justifies why none of them ever got to shine until they were finally slain by Ben Solo in Episode IX. 

The thing is, we know Exegol is a mystical place for the Dark Side, and Force users in Star Wars have a hard time staying dead. If I were to learn at least one or two of the Knights survived, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest. In fact, I kind of want that, so I’m hoping to see some sort of Knights of Ren resurrection revealed in the years to come.

DJ

DJ is one of the most mysterious characters of the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy. Finn and Rose sought out “the master code breaker” on Canto Bight, but were unable to link up with him. Instead, they’re thrown in prison and meet DJ, who gains their trust with his slicer skills. DJ is a true neutral in the fight between the Resistance and First Order, as he helped Rose and Finn, while also selling out the Resistance’s escape mission all for a bunch of money. 

After that moment, we’re not sure what happened to DJ. That’s sort of on-brand considering his motto was not to take a side in the conflict. DJ showing up on Exegol to fight would contradict all the character said in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, so it tracks he wouldn’t be around to fight the good fight. Still, where exactly did he end up and what’s he up to currently? I’d like to know, especially if he finally decided to choose a side. 

Lor San Tekka

Lor San Tekka had the attention of Star Wars fans early and often. I think it’s partly because he gave off strong Alec Guinness in Star Wars: A New Hope vibes, especially since the character had information to pass along to Poe Dameron. He died at the hand of Kylo Ren not long after, but should that be the end of his story? 

I don’t believe so, and I think there are still many stories to tell about Lor San Tekka and the adventures that inevitably led him to that map fragment. I’m all about hearing more adventures about the human explorers of Star Wars after the Galactic Civil War, and I think there are some fun stories that can come out of it. Why not give this guy a shot and see what writers can deliver?

Jannah

Jannah is yet another character Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker set up for some significant storyline, but her narrative fell to the wayside in the action of the movie. That’s a shame, because as another defector of the First Order, there was an immediate connection with Finn. She was a key player in the fight on Exegol, and the end of Episode IX brought an exciting and untold chapter to her future. 

Star Wars teased the next chapter of Jannah’s story when Lando Calrissian offered to fly her around the galaxy to find where she was from originally. It felt like the groundwork for a Disney+ series, but there are no announcements yet. Hopefully, we see something like that down the stretch.

Babu Frik

Babu Frik is one of the most meme’d characters of Star Wars’ Sequel Trilogy, and yet we know next to nothing about this little Anzellan. As far as what we do know, he worked as a Droidsmith with the Spice Runners of Kijimi, and he seems to be a skilled technician. After all, one has to imagine re-programming C-3PO was no easy task, especially since he was created by some random kid on Tatooine decades previously. 

I’m not sure Star Wars can justify a series or film set squarely on the shoulders of Babu Frik, but he’d be another great supporting character in some adventure down the stretch. I want to know more about his days amongst the Spice Runners, or at the very least what he got to work doing after the collapse of the First Order. Whatever Babu Frik is doing, I can only assume it’s awesome. 

Star Wars' Sequel Trilogy likely won’t be revisited for a while now, but that doesn’t mean the franchise is in a holding pattern. For more on the expansion of the franchise, be sure to find out what we learned about Star Wars: Visions and the possibility of the animated anthology returning for Season 2.

In the world of Star Wars, there’s always room for exotic-looking characters from various walks of life. One of the more interesting additions to the modern canon of that galaxy far, far away is that of bar proprietor/adventure seeker Maz Kanata, played by Lupita Nyong’o. However, as you’ll see in the unused design for the Star Wars: The Force Awakens character below, we almost saw a very wild departure from her now known visage. Here’s what Maz originally could have looked like:

This comes from Christian Alzmann, a concept artist/art director at Lucasfilm who shared this very special look at what Maz Kanata could have looked like in Star Wars: The Force Awakens on his Instagram page. And while it’s very similar to the final look that we got, both in concept and in execution, it’s also totally wild. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Alzmann’s commentary regarding his Star Wars: The Force Awakens design is the fact that Maz Kanata was always meant to be a nearsighted creature.

With a note of aiming for a look that invoked a character with heavy glasses, but without using those glasses, the eyes are the greatest difference in this Star Wars: The Force Awakens player. In her original design, Maz’s facial structure has a crucial variance that sees her eyes protruding out further, accompanied by a squint that definitely shows the need for some facial furniture.

However, through the process that has seen everything from character designs to entire stories discarded from the Star Wars sequel trilogy, Maz Kanata’s face became the more streamlined. humanoid presence we see today. The finished product sees Maz’s eyes slightly recessed into her face, which keeps the nearsighted nature of the character present. This also allowed the Star Wars: The Force Awakens character to literally acquire some thick glasses, as she gained her memorable accessory, a pair of goggles, out of the deal.

This wasn’t the only change we’d see to Maz Kanata in the Star Wars story, as Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker saw her character go from a CGI creation to a puppet-based presence for the final Skywalker Saga entry. Were that shift to have been made with the original design, there would have been bound to have been difficulties in scaling such a wild look into an animatronic likeness. Sometimes, things just work out the way they do for a reason.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and the rest of the Star Wars universe of films and series, can now be seen on Disney+. Who knows? We might even see Maz Kanata pop up in a younger incarnation throughout the shows and projects slated for the streaming service, and her character design might be all the more interesting to see in that particular context.

In the making of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, writer/director J.J. Abrams introduced a new wholly-digital character to the sci-fi universe: Maz Kanata. A diminutive Force-sensitive alien who Han, Rey, Finn and BB-8 meet on the planet Takodana, the role was imagined with performance capture in mind, and Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o both played her on set and provided the voice.

That process, however, was not repeated for Maz Kanata’s role in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker. You may not have noticed it during your first viewing of the film, but like many aliens in the history of the Star Wars franchise, the new version of Maz was actually brought to life as an animatronic puppet for the recent production, designed by Creature And Special Make-Up Effects Creative Supervisor Neal Scanlan.

Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of sitting down with the effects wizards (both special and visual) behind the making of Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, and one fascinating revelation that came out of the conversation was that Maz Kanata went from being a performance capture character in The Force Awakens to a practical puppet in Episode IX. And, as Scanlan described, it wasn’t just any puppet:

The CGI version of Maz Kanata was obviously a tremendously important reference for Neal Scanlan, and the work from both Lupita Nyong’o and the artists behind the digital model influenced both the way the character looked and moved. The filmmaker specifically highlighted the skin, noting that there was a layering process that provided the puppet with an “ambiance and real life quality” that even the most advanced computers in the world can’t entirely capture just yet.

What made the Maz Kanata puppet particular special, though, was the way in which it was operated behind the scenes – an effort requiring multiple puppeteers working in unison. By itself that sounds pretty standard, but what made it unique was both the technology used, and the proximity of the puppeteers to the set. Scanlan explained,

While that settles the how, the question that remains is the why. There was no significant negative response to the way that Maz Kanata was brought to life in the making of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so why take on the extra effort required to pursue such a massive undertaking?

This was a question that Neal Scanlan had an answer for, and it has to do with the alluded to legacy of animatronics in the Star Wars franchise, as well as the key scene partner Maz Kanata has in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Said Scanlan,

The folks working on the visual effects side of the production weren’t totally left out of the process of including Maz Kanata in Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker, as they did passes on her scenes to remove riggings and perfect small details, but otherwise what you see in the film is a practical effect.

Did you notice the difference? Do you plan on taking a closer look at Maz the next time you see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? Hit the comments section with your thoughts, and be on the lookout for more articles from my conversations with the effects teams behind Alita: Battle Angel, Captain Marvel, The Lion King, and Avengers: Endgame.

Ian McDiarmid’s Darth Sidious and Mark Hamill’s Luke Skywalker aren’t the only two characters that have been conspicuously unseen in the trailers for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata has also been largely MIA, but fear not, because she actually is in the final chapter in the Skywalker Saga. You can check out the first look at Maz Kanata from the Rise of Skywalker below.

There she is, and in the orange flesh no less! These images courtesy of Star Wars News Net were snapped at the press conference for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker as they played behind the assembled cast. The photos are seemingly images from the film, confirming that Maz will be back and she won’t only be seen via hologram this time around.

The first look at Maz Kanata from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a close-up, so it doesn’t offer much in the way of clues as to what her role will be in the film. We don’t see where she is or whom she is with. She is however still sporting her variable lens corrective goggles, which she used in Star Wars: The Force Awakens to look at Finn and apparently see into his heart. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her give similar insight and judgment in Episode IX.

It is good to see Maz back after what some found to be a disappointing appearance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, where she only showed up in a hologram message amid a firefight to help Finn and Rose find a master codebreaker. That said, given her relative absence from the marketing for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, she may have a relatively small role in this film as well.

However, her role is probably bigger than what amounted to a cameo in The Last Jedi. But even if it is small, it can still be important with her providing a place for the heroes to lay low or a bit of crucial information.

According to a rumor from last year, and just to be safe, potential spoilers ahead, Maz Kanata will have a more substantial role in The Rise of Skywalker than in The Last Jedi. The rumor stated that Maz Kanata will actually be traveling with Rey early in the film and as a part of that, she will finally reveal how she acquired Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber that she gave her in The Force Awakens.

This would tie back to Lando Calrissian and Cloud City and with Lando in this film, it certainly seems possible that Maz Kanata can bridge those elements from the Original Trilogy to the Sequel Trilogy. Prior to The Force Awakens, Maz Kanata seemed like she could be a Yoda-esque figure and while that may not ultimately happen, her interaction with Rey in the Takodana castle felt important and it would be nice to see that revisited.

Plus, Maz Kanata, although not a Jedi, is a Force user, and those abilities will certainly be needed in the climactic battle against the First Order and the Emperor.

As you can see, the images above also give us another look at Kylo Ren and Allegiant General Pryde. This shot of Kylo appears to be from the battle he has with Rey aboard a structure surrounded by the raging sea. It looks as though maybe Rey fled the battle with him and he is watching her go.

We also see Richard E. Grant’s General Pryde who looks like a perfect Imperial figure. The high-ranking member of the First Order looks cold, cruel and cut from the same cloth as predecessors like Director Orson Krennic and Grand Moff Tarkin.

You can catch Maz Kanata and all the friends from a galaxy far, far away when Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opens in theaters on December 20. Check out our 2020 Release Schedule to keep track of what’s coming out next year.

There are few film franchises quite as significant as Star Wars. The beloved space opera has been passed down across generations, as each trilogy of films introduce the galaxy far, far away to new audiences. The original fans have gotten a treat with the current set of movies, as it directly connects to the original trilogy, and brought back the trio of iconic heroes in Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford. All sort of connections are being made between those two trilogies, and no we've learned that Maz Kanata actually had a part to play in Return of the Jedi. Namely, that she helped Leia and Chewie plan for the rescue of Han in Return of the Jedi.

The Star Wars franchise is expanding its universe greatly in the next few years. In addition to Rian Johnson's upcoming trilogy of new films, there is also the animated series Star Wars Forces of Destiny. The show will help bridge the gap between films, and certainly did just that with its newest episode. It turns out that it was Maz Kanata's idea to get Leia the armor of bounty hunter Boushh. This ultimately allowed her to infiltrate Jabba's lair in Return of the Jedi, part of the multi-tiered plan to rescue Han Solo from being frozen in carbonite.

Episode 6 of Star Wars Forces of Destiny will focus on this particular adventure, once against bringing Lupita Nyong'o's Maz Kanata into the action of the beloved franchise. Maz was one of the most mysterious characters when she debuted in The Force Awakens, and was revealed to have close bonds with Han and Chewie, and a knowledge of The Force. She even was in possession of Luke's original lightsaber, which he lost during the conflict with Vader in Empire Strikes Back.

Unfortunately, Maz was all but absent in Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Because the story was capsulated into just a day or so, there wasn't a logical way to get Maz in on the action. She was ultimately seen in a brief hologram, informing Finn about the Master Codebreaker on Canto Bight that could help the Resistance fleet escape from The First Order.

You can check out a brief clip of Leia and Maz Kanata meeting below, courtesy of Star Wars Forces of Destiny.

Fun, right?

It's exciting for Star Wars fans to become privy to these changes in the canon, and to allow the three trilogies to be more connected. Leia's disguise in Return of the Jedi is pretty iconic (just not as much as the gold bikini), and now any re-watch of Episode VI will have just a taste of Maz Kanata's presence.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi is available On Demand now, and for home purchase on March 27. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Han Solo may have once claimed Maz Kanata to be an "acquired taste," but Lupita Nyong'o's diminutive Star Wars heroine seems to be pretty popular with just about everyone. On the heels of word last week that Maz might appear in next summer's still untitled Han Solo Star Wars Story comes an update from Star Wars: The Last Jedi's Find the Force campaign that suggests some things have changed for her since the last film. She's reportedly no longer living in the castle on Takodana and is also said to provide a link to Benicio del Toro's character, still referred to only as DJ. One fan was able to reveal the following:

That description was reportedly pulled from the upcoming Find the Force campaign (which will launch in full this Friday, September 1) by a Making Star Wars reader. Rumors concerning a galaxy far, far away should often be taken with a double grain of salt, but this one certainly sounds likely. We know next to nothing about Benicio del Toro's DJ (including what his actual name will be). According to previous reports, DJ has code-breaking skills that cause John Boyega's Finn and Kelly Marie Tran's Rose to seek his services. Neither a member of the resistance or the First Order, DJ certainly sounds like the type of scoundrel with whom Maz Kanata likes to associate.

As intriguing as her connection to DJ may ultimately turn out to be, the notion of Maz Kanata being forced to go mobile should is also a pretty fun idea. What specifically forced her from Takodana? Could it be that the First Order is aware of Maz' connections to the Force? If Kylo Ren believes that his encounter with Rey at the end of The Force Awakens could lead to the Jedi order returning, it's not hard to imagine that he might seize and or destroy locations tied to the Force. Then again, Maz might just be extra cautious and trying to stay two steps ahead of anyone who might wish her harm.

If she's not on Takodana, though, where will we find Maz Kanata in The Last Jedi? Will she take refuge on a similar planet or might she actually have her own ship this time? In The Force Awakens, she liked to jokingly refer Chewbacca as her boyfriend, so it's quite possible that we'll be seeing more of the gearhead side of Maz this time around.

On beyond Maz Kanata and her mysteries, there's still quite a bit to uncover about Star Wars: The Last Jedi between now and when the film hits theaters December 15, 2017. Stay up to date with all the latest info with our detailed guide that offers everything we know so far.

The still-untitled Han Solo movie has been coming together in recent months, now under the watchful eyes of Ron Howard, who has been moderately open about sharing non-spoilery, or mostly non-spoilery set photos. But in recent days, it has seemed that a potential casting may have leaked, when one Funko Pop employee started talking about the Hano Solo movie in relation to its line of toys. Mark, from Funko Pop mentioned that he is excited for the upcoming Star Wars prequel, naming a few cast members from the movie, including Lupita Nyong'o. He said,

But wait, you may be asking, Lupita Nyong'o? The actress in question plays Maz Kanata in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and if you've been keeping tabs on the Star Wars franchise in recent weeks, you may already know that Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson shared an image a while back of a person working in a motion capture suit alongside an image of Maz Kanata, and the director has confirmed that Maz will be back in action when The Last Jedi hits theaters on December 15. However, an appearance in the Han Solo movie would mark a younger appearance from the character and one that would be far more unexpected. The real question is, "Will it actually happen?"

The above quote came up when the Steele Wars podcast was asking a lot of questions about Funko Mark's knowledge of new Star Wars products. The Funko Pop expert also mentioned that sometimes Disney is sending out orders only 4-5 months in advance of the films, which makes sense, as toys--not just Funko Pops but plenty of other collectibles--have been known to spoil plots before. He actually seemed pretty nonchalant about the process, noting,

He also went on and on about the various Star Wars projects that Funko is working on, which makes it easy to see how the actors or actresses in different Star Wars franchise movies could be easily confused. It really doesn't sound as if Funko Mark was trying to spoil anything here. Perhaps it was a slip of the tongue and the poor man just briefly mixed up properties. Perhaps what he really meant to say instead of Lupita Nyong'o was Alden Ehrenreich, etc.

And perhaps Maz Kanata really will make an appearance in the Han Solo movie after all, to add another nice connection between the different sets of movies Disney and Lucasfilm have coming together. After all, the character is supposedly 1,000 years of age. Whatever the answer, it's not one we're likely to get from the studio soon. On the bright side, you will be able to catch the character in Star Wars: Forces Of Destiny soon.

Nearly two years ago J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens flew into theaters, welcoming in a new era in the beloved franchise. Aside from the standalone film that will expand the galaxy far, far away, the main trilogy has introduced a ton of new characters who are teaming up with franchise favorites like Luke Skywalker. One of the more mysterious and fascinating newcomers is Lupita Nyong'o's Maz Kanata, who has a relationship to The Force and gave Rey Luke's lightsaber. But those Star Wars fans who want to see her flirt with Chewie in The Last Jedi may be disappointed, because she won't have that large of a role in Rian Johnson's sequel. He recently opened up, saying:

That concept, which comes to us from EW, is certainly a bummer. Maz Kanata wasn't in all that much of The Force Awakens, so a smaller role means that there should be very little Maz in The Last Jedi. And we have a few more months to wonder about what that role might be.

Something tells me that Maz Kanata will likely help bridge the gap between The Return of the Jedi and the new trilogy. She somehow acquired Luke's original lightsaber after his hand was chopped off in Empire Strikes Back, and she seems to know quite a bit about the lost Jedi order. Perhaps Rey and Luke will both seek out the mysterious newcomer; her main link to the events of the last film died with Han, so her next appearance could be just about anything.

It should be interesting to see what type of footage from The Last Jedi is rolled out in the next few months. A bunch of new teasers arrived in the fall ahead of The Force Awakens, and hopefully we'll get a glimpse at Maz sometime soon. Then again, director Rian Johnson and Mark Hamill have both encouraged the fandom to steer clear of the upcoming marketing campaign, so they can have a truly surprising night in the movies come December. But considering how rabid the generations of Star Wars fans are, that's easier said than done.

All will be revealed in just a few months, as Star Wars: The Last Jedi will fly into theaters on December 15th. We'll be sure to update you on every update regarding the highly anticipated sequel, in the meantime you can check out our 2017 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Star Wars has already had its fair share of romances that have ranged from the sublime (Han and Leia) to the despicable (Anakin and Padme) all the way through to the incestuous (Luke and Leia). However, there's one on the horizon that could top the lot, because Lupita Nyong'o has admitted that she is pining for her character Maz Kanata to start a relationship with the one and only Chewbacca.

Lupita Nyong'o made this admission while to speaking to Yahoo Movies, insisting that she'd absolutely love it if either Star Wars: Episode VII or Star Wars: Episode IX or both spent a little time exploring Maz Kanata and Chewbacca's past. The Academy Award winner, who picked up her statuette for her stunning performance in 12 Years A Slave, remarked when asked about the potential plot:

The possible romance between Maz Kanata and Chewbacca isn't all that surprising, though. That's because in Star War: The Force Awakens, when Han, Finn, Rey, and BB-8 arrive to speak to Maz, she asks Mr Solo where her "boyfriend" Chewbacca is. For those of you that can't remember, Chewbacca was making repairs on the Millennium Falcon at the time, so he wasn't able to come and see her.

However, just that one little line was enough to send Star Wars fans into overdrive as they then started to speculate about the possible relationship between the duo. Not only did fan art of the pair instantly appear online, but fan theories and fan fiction about their past also started to do the rounds. In fact, one rather dedicated fan even went on to create a video depicting their first kiss.

The weirdest suggestion to have appeared online was that Chewbacca and Maz Kanata's relationship and subsequent children produced the first Ewoks. Something that's just rather disturbing to even think about. Of course we don't have that long to wait and see if Rian Johnson or Colin Trevorrow decide to use some of these suggestions. The Johnson-directed Star Wars: Episode VIII is due out on December 15, 2017, while Trevorrow's Star Wars: Episode IX will follow on May 24, 2019.

OK, I'll admit that both of those dates sound excruciatingly far away, but that should give us enough time to get used to the idea of Maz Kanata and Chewbacca holding hands and being intimate together.

There were so many different rumors about Star Wars: The Force Awakens that it was just short of impossible to keep them all straight. Half of them contradicted the other half and then when the movie was finally released we learned that a great deal of them were just a bunch of crap. Well, now Luke Skywalker himself has informed us that one of the old rumors wasn’t entirely untrue. The original opening scene of The Force Awakens was going to include Luke’s old lightsaber.

During the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens we actually heard several rumors regarding an opening sequence that would have involved Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber being found on the planet Jakku. In some versions of the story it’s discovered by a random inhabitant of the planet, in others, it’s picked by Rey and Finn. When the movie finally opened, and we did not see this happen, we just wrote it off as one of the rumors that was made up. However, Mark Hamill now tells The Sun, that’s not entirely the case.

In the original rumors, Luke’s lightsaber seemed to play the role that the map eventually did, as the object everybody is chasing. It seems that the truth was more that the scene was meant to be a tease. Since it sounds like this scene was never actually created, it’s hard to know what it would have looked like. Would we have recognized the hand when we met Maz Kanata later, as the person in possession of the lightsaber, or would the weapon have traveled through multiple hands since we saw it at the beginning of the film?

If you think about it, though, this scene sounds really strange. Luke's hand is still grasping the lightsaber as it’s falling through space? How does that even happen? Has the hand been sailing through the void of space for 30 years until it’s grabbed by the gravity of Jakku? How does that work? What sort of messed up gravity must Bespin have for that to make sense? This scene might answer the question of how Maz Kanata got the lightsaber, but it asks so many more about how it got there in the first place.  

The productions of the Star Wars movies are almost as mysterious as the galaxies and worlds that they depict. With production of Star Wars: Episode VIII well underway, we’ve barely been able to glean any details about the latest installment in the iconic saga. However, Rian Johnson just released a new photo from the set of Star Wars: Episode VIII, and it appears that the film will provide greater insight into the life of Lupita Nyong’o’s strange new character, Maz Kanata.

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Star Wars: Episode VIII director Rian Johnson has just released the above photo to his Tumblr account. The image shows a soundstage from the production of Episode VIII, with a person standing alone wearing a motion capture suit. Surrounding the stage are images of Maz Kanata, leading us to believe that this is the character being captured on the stage.

Of course, due to the vague nature of this photo, we cannot entirely be sure as to who is standing on the stage. It would seem logical to assume that it’s actress Lupita Nyong’o, but with the actor’s back facing the camera we cannot make any statements with absolute certainty. The person in the mo-cap suit is so wrapped up and obscured by the lighting that it becomes almost impossible to get any specific details.

We can glean one thing from this photo: Maz Kanata will almost certainly return for Star Wars: Episode VIII. This isn’t exactly the most surprising revelation; of all the new characters introduced during the events of The Force Awakens, Maz had one of the most interesting backstories, and some of the most interesting dynamics with our beloved heroes. She clearly knows more about the galaxy and The Force than she lets on, so we have a distinct feeling that she’ll return to provide more insight into this new world for Rey. Well… that, and the fact that we just want to see her return for a potential romance with everyone’s favorite wookie, Chewbacca.

Although it’s not much, this possible image of Lupita Nyong’o as Maz Kanata is one of the best looks we’ve managed to get of the Star Wars: Episode VIII production. The film continues to maintain a distinct aura of secrecy, but we will do our best to bring you any and all details related to the film’s production, and eventual release, whenever possible. Star Wars: Episode VIII will hit theaters on December 17, 2017; stay tuned for more details!

The debut of Maz Kanata was one of the most eagerly anticipated aspects of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. And while our introduction to Lupita Nyong’o’s character was a little briefer than most people expected, the diminutive smuggler’s involvement in the franchise is only likely to get bigger with each passing blockbuster. But how did the Star Wars creative team turn the Oscar winning actress into Maz Kanata? Well, luckily for us, Lupita Nyong’o has now uploaded a video that details the complicated process that went into doing just that.

We have the good folks over at Industrial Light & Magic to thank for doing such a seamless job of merging Lupita Nyong’o’s CGI performance into the finished film. And it turns out that the company’s prowess in this field meant that it was easier than ever for Lupita Nyong’o’s acting talents to be translated and deposited on the big-screen.

Ben Morris, the Visual Effects Supervisor over at ILM, made this revelation during the above clip, which also showed that her Star Wars: The Force Awakens co-star Andy Serkis was on hand a number of times to help Lupita Nyong’o through the process. Actually, since he’s wearing the same shirt in the footage, we can only really say that Andy Serkis was there for at least one day, which just so happened to coincide with when filming took place.

Obviously Andy Serkis has a lot of previous experience in the field of motion-capture performances. Not only has the actor’s performances been captured using this method when he worked on the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, The Hobbit, King Kong, and both Dawn and Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, but his portrayals have been so sublime that many moviegoers believe he should have been a recipient of at least one Academy Award nomination for his efforts.

The footage, which is part of an extended featurette that will be included on the home entertainment release for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, also shows J.J. Abrams waxing lyrical about how Maz Kanata was able to seamlessly weave into the film. This is, hopefully, just be the beginning though. Because we can expect Maz Kanata to feature prominently in Star Wars 8 and Star Wars 9, too. And that's good, because we could use way more Maz Kanata than what we saw in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

With the recent Oscar nominations, there’s been a lot of hubbub around what actors and directors got nominated, who got snubbed, what pictures are the most deserving, and many other topics. With all of the attention paid to the big categories, some of the less glamorous one, like visual effects, go underappreciated, but are no less impressive and important. A new video arrived that shows off some of the Academy Award-nominated special effects work from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, specifically how they turned Lupita Nyong’o into Maz Kanata.

Especially in a movie like Star War: The Force Awakens, one that attempts to create a wholly new universe populated by all manner of fantastic creatures and a variety of alien races, the special effects go a long way to selling the world. If you just have a bunch of dudes in shoddy costumes, the viewer is not going to get invested in this story at all. And that is certainly not the case with The Force Awakens, as there are intricate prosthetics, seamless digital set extensions, and much more.

While director J.J. Abrams used practical effects when possible, he wasn’t afraid to insert entirely digital characters either, and this video from Wired digs into the most notable of these, Lupita Nyong’o’s 1000-year-old bar owner Maz Kanata. Played entirely in motion capture by the 32-year-old actress, there’s so much more that goes into crafting a character like this.

After the character is created and designed, the actress’ is scanned and her movements are captured and converted, through a whole lot of technology that I will never in a million years be able to adequately explain, and the end result is what we see on the movie screen. This translation is very close to magic.

Seeing all the layers and passes that go into what, in the finished product, looks like a simple, natural shot, is impressive and really drives home just how detailed and intricate this process is. The fact that it all flows seamlessly into Star War: The Force Awakens is nothing short of phenomenal—one of the big knocks against the prequels has always been that the special effects are intrusive—and makes you realize how much of what we see is made up of nothing but pixels.

You probably know this, hell, you’ve probably contributed to this, but Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been making a ton of money since it was released. It’s currently closing in on the $2 billion mark, though this past weekend was the first time it didn’t with the box office since it dropped in December, surrendering that spot to Ride Along 2.

The Star Wars franchise has always provided more adventures than what’s been shown on the big screen. From 1978 until 2014, fans could continue their exploration of a galaxy far, far away through the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Following Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, anything aside from the movies and Star Wars: The Clone Wars was tossed out as canon, but thanks to the new story group, they’re continuing to tell other tales through books, comics, and video games, all of which are official. Most recently, it was announced that Poe Dameron will star in his own ongoing series from Marvel, showing what he was up to before Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Now that the new trilogy has kicked off, this opens the door for other characters to be explored outside theaters. Obviously certain reveals are off-limits since they’re being kept for the movies, from Rey’s parentage to Luke Skywalker and Kylo Ren’s falling out. Let’s not even get started on what the deal is with Supreme Leader Snoke. Despite these restrictions, there are still a few candidates that could have their stories continued in others forms that will help ease the wait until Star Wars: Episode VIII. Take a look at who we picked to have their pre-The Force Awakens tales told.

Needless to say, there will be Star Wars: The Force Awakens spoilers ahead!

Hux’s Rise To Power

Kylo Ren was Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ main villain, but in terms of First Order hierarchy, Hux was more or less his equal. The young general may not have been deep in the action, but it was clear he has a commanding presence and will do whatever it takes to see that the First Order rules the galaxy. If Hux is the same age as his actor Domhnall Gleeson, then that means he was only a toddler when Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader, and the second Death Star met their demise. So he’s basically spent his entire life building a grudge against the Rebellion/Resistance, and at a still relatively young age, he’s determined to see them wiped from existence. Although the novelization for The Force Awakens touched on his career, it would be great to see a more detailed look at how he rose to power, as well as his first interactions with Snoke. This would also be the first opportunity to see how he performs in action, though presumably he’ll get to mix things up in Episode VIII or IX.

Maz Kanata’s Past

Yoda may have lived a long time, but he’s got nothing at Maz Kanata. Though she's at least 1,000 years old, she’s still going strong, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens is only the latest page in her long life book. We still don’t know for sure if Maz will return for Episode VIII, but on the off chance that doesn’t happen, at least we can learn about her in the years before the First Order attacked her castle. There are plenty of points in Maz’s life that could be visited, whether it’s her connection to any of the Rebellion members during the Original Trilogy or seeing if she directly participated in any events from the Prequels. Heck, they could even go back hundreds of years further, which, in the new other media canon, is a period that has yet to be explored. Of course, the big question we still have is how she got ahold of Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber following The Empire Strikes Back. Assuming Luke doesn’t provide those details in the upcoming movie, it would be nice to see where she secured the legacy weapon in a book or comic.

What Happened To Han Between Jedi And The Force Awakens

We all know Han Solo’s story from the Original Trilogy quite well, and in two years we’ll learn what he was up to as a younger man. Since he met his end at the hands of Kylo Ren (cue re-shedding of tears), that means the only time left for picking is his post-Return of the Jedi life. We learned in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that after his son Ben turned to the dark side and destroyed Luke’s work rebuilding the Jedi Order, Han and Leia separated, and he returned to his old smuggling life with Chewbacca. While these adventures weren’t anything galaxy-shattering, watching these two get into trouble again would be a fun ride, including seeing what they were doing right before they found the Millennium Falcon. If the writer of said project is feeling ambitious, they could even include flashbacks to Han and Leia raising Ben, though obviously the specifics of his evil turn would need to remain untold.

Phasma’s Notorious Missions

Despite being hyped up for months, Captain Phasma didn’t play a big role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, only appearing in a handful of scenes and never getting to fire her blaster. That’s going to be remedied in Star Wars: Episode VIII, but if Phasma’s the badass that’s been advertised, then she’s already had years of missions cementing her as one of the First Order’s top operatives. Of all the entries on this list, it might be most effective to tell a Phasma story in book, comic, or even video game form since we don’t know what the big screen plans are for her. That said, if we saw a few of her previous missions, we would get a better sense of why she’s so feared not only be her enemies, but those who serve under her. Also, like Boba Fett, it would also be wise to keep her helmet on at all times, at least until she takes if off in the movies. We wouldn’t that moment to first happen away from moviegoers.

More Information On Lor San Tekka

Max von Sydow was one of the first new actors announced for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but he was only seen as Lor San Tekka in the movie’s opening scene. Nevertheless, in those minutes, it was clear he was someone of great importance. While Tekka’s time was cut short by Kylo Ren’s blade, the man’s life can still be explored on the printed page. Both the Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary and the movie’s novelization have provided details about his past, but we’d appreciate a book or comic that tells about his adventures, even if he isn’t the central character. It could be anything from his time as a member of the Church of the Force during the Empire’s reign to how he aided the New Republic following the destruction of the second Death Star. They could even show how well acquainted he was with the Solo family when Ben was still a boy. Most importantly, how did Tekka find the map fragment leading to Luke Skywalker’s whereabouts on Ahch-To? There’s still plenty to learn about the man.

We spent so much of our time speculating about what was going to happen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that we had no idea what we were going to talk about once the movie actually came out. Luckily for us, the movie raised more questions than it answered, giving us plenty of interesting things to discuss and theorize about. What’s more, just enough new detail is leaking out that it gives us a little more data to work with. Such has been the case regarding one of our favorite new characters, Maz Kanata.

The movie told us that the character was more than 1,000 years old, and that she was sensitive to the Force. So, if she’s roughly 1,000 years old, she would have been alive during the time of the prequel trilogy, right? What’s more, there’s at least a hint in The Phantom Menace that she might have been. In the middle of that movie, when our heroes arrive on Tatooine and meet the young Anakin Skywalker, he brings Padme into his room to show off his droid (which is not a euphemism for anything). On the table in his room is a doll or statue of some kind that looks suspiciously familiar.

So, is that idol on the left a Maz Kanata figure? Well, at 1,000 years old -- when most of the galaxy, as far as we know, has lifespans similar to our own -- Kanata would have been around for hundreds of years prior to this film. What’s more, recent evidence regarding deleted scenes in the movie show us that not only is Maz Kanata Force "sensitive," but she’s actually a full-fledged Force user, bringing a ceiling down on a bunch of Stormtroopers. While Kanata says in Star Wars: The Force Awakens that she’s not a Jedi, she certainly has a strong control of the Force, which may be the reason she’s lived as long as she has. It might also be the reason there’s a doll of her in Anakin’s room. She might be somewhat famous, being as long-lived and powerful as she is.

There are, of course, other possibilities as well. It could be that this is an image of somebody of the same race as Maz Kanata, while not actually being her. It could also be that some creature creator from Star Wars: The Force Awakens saw this while doing research and used it as an inspiration for the character of Maz. Finally, it could also be a complete coincidence that means absolutely nothing whatsoever.

What do you think? Is this a retroactive easter egg, or simply an odd coincidence? Let us know your theories below.

While we’ve already been told that the eventual Blu-Ray release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens will not include an extended cut, it will include a sizeable chunk of deleted scenes. Now, a new interview with the guys in charge of the film’s visual effects reveals something new about one of the most mysterious new characters in the movie. It turns out Maz Kanata isn’t just Force-sensitive, she’s a Force badass.

According to Chris Corbould, the SFX Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, a scene was filmed, but eventually cut, which included Maz using her powers...

The interview, with Collider, simply adds a lot more detail about how much larger of a role Maz Kanata originally had that was eventually edited out. All in all, we learn a lot about what we might expect from the deleted scenes that could be on the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Blu-ray release.

One of our favorite new character’s in The Force Awakens is Maz Kanata. She’s the bar owner who’s over 1000 years old and voiced by Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o. In the film, she tells Rey that she’s not a Jedi, but that she is able to feel the Force. In truth, she can do much more than that.

While most of us are hungry for any additional content that was created for the film, we’re all really excited to see this. Once the battle on the planet gets started, we completely lose track of Maz and how she handles the fighting and destruction of her bar. Now that we know she was doing her part to defend the planet, we would have loved to have seen that.

This isn’t the first we’ve heard about Maz’s strength with the Force, though it is the clearest indication that she actually has the ability to use her powers actively. Maz says that she’s not a Jedi in the film, but based on information in the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Visual Dictionary, we have already learned that she’s able to use the Force in order to locate certain relics that are associated to the Force. This is how she’s able to eventually obtain Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber, and hold on to it for the next potential Jedi to come along.

While it’s not a guarantee that this scene will actually be amongst those included on the new Blu-Ray, we’re certainly hopeful that this will be the case. We want to see more Maz, and we definitely want to see her kick some Stormtrooper butt among the rubble of her popular bar.

You might not guess it immediately, but some of the outlandish characters that populate the far, far away galaxy of J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens have origins that can be found startlingly close to home. For instance, while working on the script, the writer and director found inspiration for the diminutive, venerable Maz Kanata in the most unlikely source: his high school English teacher.

In a recent interview, the mastermind behind the massive hit (The Force Awakens has, as of today, apparently earned more than $765 million at the worldwide box office, in a week) told The Palisadian Post that Maz is based on Rose Gilbert, his high school English teacher. Abrams said:

Gilbert started teaching at Palisades Charter High School in 1961 when it first opened its doors to students, running three AP English classes in the same classroom where she taught until she retired in 2013 at the age of 94. This made her the oldest full-time educator in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Known to many of her students by the nickname Mama G, she was renowned for wearing an oversized pair of glasses that may look familiar to star wars fans. Listening to Abrams talk, it’s easy to spot the similarities between Gilbert and Maz Kanata. The character, voiced and motion captured by Lupita Nyong’o, may be a thousand years old and run an out of the way underworld watering hole on the planet Takodana, but from what few scenes we get with her (Abrams wound up cutting some additional moments with her), she is wise and kind and offers a great deal of insight.

While Gilbert left an apparent impression on J.J. Abrams, he was not the only one on The Force Awakens staff she impacted. Production designer Rick Carter was a student some 15 years before the director, and the two worked together on the final design for Maz. Abrams said they initially hoped to contact her to show her what they were doing, but she passed away on December 16, 2013 at the age of 95. Both Abrams and Carter attended her funeral.

If at times it felt like Abrams had a soft spot for Maz Kanata, now it appears that we know why. We’ve also heard that there is much more to come from the character and that her story will continue to unfold in future Star Wars movies, but for now we can look at her as a fond tribute to a favorite teacher.

Unless you’ve been unconscious for the last few days, you’re well aware that Star Wars: The Force Awakens finally opened and is in the process of taking over the damn world. J.J. Abrams’ seventh installment of the beloved space opera introduced a ton of new characters, some of which are front and center in the action, and others that are woefully underused or that leave us with a slew of dangling questions that we can’t wait to have answered. We’re roughly 18 months away from Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII, but here are the characters we need to see more of when that film hits on May 26, 2017 and as the Star Wars universe continues to expand.

There are, of course, MASSIVE SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Force Awakens beyond this point. If you haven’t seen the movie already, for the love of God, stop reading and check out one of our many other Star Wars-centric articles. You’ve been warned.

Poe Dameron

Along with Daisy Ridley’s Rey and John Boyega’s Finn, Oscar Isaac’s badass pilot Poe Dameron was billed as one of the biggest additions to the franchise, forming a new Holy Trinity in the vein of Han, Luke, and Leia. During the opening act, he does, in fact, play a sizable role, teaming up with Finn to escape from captivity on board a First Order Star Destroyer. While he’s there he’s great, bringing an awesome new school version of Han Solo’s attitude and swagger. Unfortunately, he disappears for the middle of the movie, leaving you to think he may be dead (none of us really believed that, but the possibility was out there). We have since found out that Abrams originally intended for Poe, whose parents we meet in the Shattered Empire comic, to die, but found a way to keep him around. And we’re glad he did, we just want to see more of him in Episode VIII and beyond.

Captain Phasma

During the lead up, Gwendoline Christie’s badass chrome-plated stormtrooper, Captain Phasma, was built up to be this harrowing, menacing presence, part of a three-headed monster of evil along with Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson). Gender-swapped in the development process (Benedict Cumberbatch was reportedly eyed for the part initially), J.J. Abrams even said she is his favorite of the new characters. But what we got in The Force Awakens is a character who is barely there, leading many to call her the new trilogy’s Boba Fett, full of potential, but with little actual presence. Her fate is up in the air—she may have been tossed in a garbage compactor, and may have been blown up with the destruction of Starkiller Base—but there’s so much potential, and there are reportedly big plans in store for her. We can’t wait.

Lor San Tekka

Lor San Tekka, played by Max Von Sydow, is one of the most curious, mysterious characters in The Force Awakens. Why do you cast an actor of his stature and caliber for a part that could have easily been nothing more than a handoff from a faceless character? Lor San Tekka has obviously been around a long time and has been in the shit. Kylo Ren knows him, remarking how old he’s become, and Leia "will always be royalty" to him. He is reportedly a "seasoned traveller and explorer," one that has "proven his worth to the New Republic and Resistance many times over," and an "old ally" as the opening crawl calls him, but that doesn’t really answer any of the questions we have. Was he involved in Luke Skywalker’s new Jedi training program? Why does he need to make things right, as he says (or is he merely speaking in a general sense)? There have been rumors that, during the heart of the Empire, he was part of the Church of the Force, an underground religion that worshiped the Force and the Jedi. Some have speculated that he could be a reformed Boba Fett, and other rumors indicate a younger version of the character could show up in one of the spinoff movies, like Rogue One. He’s obviously not showing up in the Episodes, as he dies at the hands of Kylo Ren, but he’s still super fascinating and we want some concrete answers moving forward.

The Dudes From The Raid

Gareth Evans’ Indonesian actioner The Raid and The Raid 2 are two of the best action movies in recent memory. J.J. Abrams is a fan and cast stars Iko Uwais and Yayan Ruhian as Tasu Leech and Razoo Quin-Fee, respectively, members of the Kanjiklub, a gang of vicious space pirates. Upon hearing that two of the best cinematic martial artists and fight coordinators currently working anywhere in the world were going to show up in a freaking Star Wars movie, we got pumped. Turns out, however, they don’t throw a single punch. What the hell? Odds are there was more to their presence originally, but that their scenes were cut down for time and pacing issues, but it just feels like a damn waste. Hopefully in Episode VIII, and perhaps beyond, we will see this nefarious space crew get an opportunity to kick some more ass, they have the chance to be out of control awesome. We presume that most of them die in the rampage on Han’s freighter, but they could come back in costume as other characters, and at least Rogue One has the chance to make full use of fellow martial arts master Donnie Yen. Let’s hope they don’t screw it up.

Supreme Leader Snoke

While we finally got to lay eyes on the looming big bad of the new Star Wars trilogy, Andy Serkis’ performance captured Supreme Leader Snoke, there is a lot we don’t know. While Kylo Ren, General Hux, and Captain Phasma are more at the forefront of the battle with the Resistance, Snoke appears to be the puppet master of the First Order, pulling the strings from, well, we don’t know where. We only see him as a hologram, ordering his underlings about. We don’t know where he is, where he came from, how he’s so powerful with the Force, why he has such a hatred for the Republic, and much more. Though he appears as huge in The Force Awakens, we don’t even know of that’s his true size or simply a visual trick he uses to make himself more imposing. Filling a similar role as Emperor Palpatine in the original trilogy, the more we learn about Snoke, the more we’re likely to learn about the origins of the First Order, and vice versa.

Maz Kanata

Much like Poe Dameron, Maz Kanata, voiced and motion captured by Lupita Nyong’o, disappears, only she never returns. The thousand-year-old proprietor of an out of the way underworld watering hole, Maz is an interesting character who has seen a great many things and has a unique insight into the state of this far, far away galaxy. That said, she’s severely underutilized. After Kylo Ren and the First Order goons wreck up her place, we never see her again. We now know that additional scenes where she accompanies Han Solo and company to the Resistance headquarters were cut from the movie—including that shot where she hands Luke’s lightsaber to Leia—and we’ve heard that more of her story will unspool in future Episodes. So we haven’t seen the last of the little weirdo with the soothing voice, which is good because she’s too interesting not to give us more.

Snap Wexley

If you look at Temmin "Snap" Wexley, played by J.J. Abrams’ childhood pal Greg Grunberg and thought, oh, here’s just another cameo, you’re actually wrong. Sure, the director likes to include his old pal in most of his projects, even referring to the actor as a good luck charm, but the character is more than just a throwaway. In reality, he’s kind of the Wedge Antilles of The Force Awakens. Wedge only has a small presence in the films but has a rich, detailed story in the Expanded Universe. Similarly, though Snap only has a few lines and scenes in Abrams’ film—though his reconnaissance is key in the destruction of Starkiller Base—the character is a key part of the canon novel Aftermath by Chuck Wendig, where we meet him as a teenager in the wake of the Battle of Endor. His mother is a pilot in the Rebellion, and he helps break up a meeting between remnants of the Empire on the outer rim planet Akiva. Perhaps we’ll see more of him in upcoming Episodes, but it also seem likely we could see him show up again in the supplementary texts, especially as Aftermath is supposed to be the first of its own trilogy.

General Hux

There hasn’t been a really good bureaucratic dick of a villain in the Star Wars universe for a while, but Domhnall Gleeson’s General Hux could hit a Grand Moff Tarkin kind of plateau. Like many of the other characters on this list, we see the potential Hux has to become a nice addition to the stable of antagonists—you don’t need the Force to be an evil bastard—but he largely took a back seat while The Force Awakens dealt with Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren, and Han Solo. With that sinister sneer, coupled with his prim, prissy administrative bend, he could be a smarmy, maniacal administrative asshole lording over underlings, citing regulations, and basically making life miserable for everyone who has the misfortune to come into contact with him.

General Leia

We knew it was coming, but when we first saw Leia, it was one of the moments in The Force Awakens that made your breath catch. Watching her interact with Han, it was like the last 30 years never happened, and we realized that we still love them just as much as always. That said, she’s not around a whole lot, which makes sense given the narrative, but moving forward, she has the chance to be a huge emotional part of future Episodes. Though she felt it, we never really see her react to Han’s death, and since it’s her son that does that does the deed, there’s even more in play. Then there’s also what is sure to be a complex reaction to, presumably, seeing her long lost brother show up again. In addition to her role as a badass military leader and the face of the Resistance, which we can’t wait to see more of, it’s this emotional component we really want to see explored; she has the capacity to just gut us.

Luke Skywalker

And, of course we need more Luke. For all the talk of the return of Luke Skywalker building up to The Force Awakens, he was kind of a red herring. Mark Hamill has one scene, no lines, and doesn’t do much beyond stand on the picturesque isle of Skellig Michael, turn around, and stare at Rey. All in all, he's in eight total shots in the movie, including Rey's dream sequence where he puts his hand on R2-D2. Obviously there’s much more to his story, but we don’t get any of it here. We want to find out where he’s been, why he left, why he tracked down the first Jedi temple, what happened at his academy, what’s the nature of his relationship with Rey, what he plans to do about Kylo Ren, the First Order, and Snoke, and so, so much more. I could sit here all day and list off things we want, even need, to know about Luke’s status, but that is obviously going to play a big part in the saga moving forward. We just might drive ourselves crazy speculating about it for the next 18 months until Episode VIII, hopefully, gives us some answers.

There are quite a few new characters to meet in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Some of the, like Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega), and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), we spend a lot of time with and get a fair amount of their story—not to say that we’re not left with mysteries. Then there are others we get less of. One of these is Maz Kanata. We’ve heard reports that her part was trimmed down in editing, and now we know why one scene was cut.

SPOILERS for Star Wars: The Force Awakens lurk beyond this point. Beware.

In the trailers for The Force Awakens there is a shot of Maz Kanata, voiced and motion captured by Lupita Nyong’o, handing a lightsaber to General Leia. We now know to whom the weapon in question belongs, but this moment is curiously absent from the finished film. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, director J.J. Abrams explained why.

This answers one of the questions that many of us had after watching The Force Awakens, which is what happened to Maz? The last we see of her, the Kylo Ren and his First Order goons are attacking her watering hole on the planet Takodana, and she gets Finn to light up Luke’s lightsaber and have at some stormtroopers. If I’m not mistaken, after that, we don’t see her again.

It makes sense that Maz, if she survived, would have accompanied Han Solo and the others to the Resistance base. But if, like Abrams says, she didn’t really have any further part to play in the larger narrative, she would have just felt like additional baggage taking up space, and it’s easy to see why she was cut for time and pacing issues.

Though she disappears, we haven’t seen the last of the little bug-eyed weirdo. Abrams has said that we will see more of her story unfold over the course of future Episode movies, and given that she is more than a thousand years old and has see some shit in her time dealing with the underworld of the galaxy, she will likely have all kinds of valuable insight into the impending conflict with the First Order.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is in theaters now, but considering how much money it has already made, you probably know that and have seen it a couple of times.

If you’re anything like us, and most of the other people on the internet, you’ve spent the better part of the last day pouring over every frame and word in the latest Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer. It’s yet another look that sends shivers up our spines, but, as with the previous offerings, for everything that it shows us, there is still a great deal that remains hidden.

For all the crazy awesome action scenes, grim moments, and dramatic beats that we’ve now seen, we don’t really know much about the story. And for all of the characters we’ve glimpsed on screen, there are some notable ones that we haven’t really laid eyes on yet. We thought, what better time to run through some of the characters we’re most excited and curious to see in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Let us know who you’re most excited about in the comments below.

Maz Kanata

We got our first look at the completely CGI pirate in the latest poster for The Force Awakens, though it’s far from detailed — there’s also that bit in the second trailer that we suspect is her handing over a lightsaber. However, as much as we want to see this character full on, we probably won’t, as Lucasfilm has said they plan to keep Maz Kanata under wraps until the film is unveiled. Voiced by Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o, though we haven’t seen her in action yet, we believe we got to hear her urging Rey (Daisy Ridley) to let the Force wash over her in the new trailer. At this stage, we don’t even know much about her aside from the piracy thing, and that her dwelling is a hangout for nefarious space outlaws and folks of that ilk. It will be interesting to see how she fits into the narrative. She obviously has knowledge of the Force, so we have to wonder if she’s a Jedi, something of a historian, or just a useful person to know if you’re battling the First Order and need a place to lay low.

Supreme Leader Snoke

Another character we’ve heard but haven’t seen is Supreme Leader Snoke, yet another fully motion captured character, this time performed by Andy Serkis. And if his appearance is even a fraction as ominous as his voiceover in the first trailer, he’s going to be one straight up terrifying villain for our heroes to contend with. Aside from the fact that he’s the commander of the First Order, skilled in the Dark Side of the Force, and reportedly a mentor to Kylo Ren, there isn’t a ton of information about him. It’s easy to picture him in a role similar to Emperor Palpatine in the original trilogy, a looming threat, pulling the strings while other villains, like Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma, execute the on-the-ground part of their plan. At the end of the new canon novel Aftermath, there is a character who is neither named nor described, but who has a sinister presence that terrifies even his underlings. We don’t know who this is, but many have speculated it could be Snoke, and a scary as he is there, given 30 years that elapse between that time and The Force Awakens, he has space to grow into something truly chilling.

General Hux

We’ve encountered photos of Domhnall Gleeson as General Hux, and even spied him from a distance addressing a massive throng of First Order stormtroopers, but the new villain has yet to pop up in any substantial way in the trailers. Hux appears to be carrying the torch of characters like Peter Cushing’s Grand Moff Tarkin and his ilk, in that he won’t necessarily cut you in half with a lightsaber or Force choke you, but he represents the military might of the First Order. We know he commands the new battle station, Starkiller Base, which, according to reports puts even the Death Star to shame. Instead of being a planet-sized battle station, it’s an entire planet, repurposed and turned into a killing machine the likes of which we’ve never seen. This is going to be horrifying to watch.

Max Von Sydow’s Character

Max Von Sydow plays a spooky character like few other actors of his or any other generation. When it was announced that he was part of the cast, many assumed he would be a villain, but here we are, less than two months away from The Force Awakens, and we still don’t really know anything about his character. The latest rumor, emphasis on the rumor part, indicated that his character is named Lor San Tekka, and while he doesn’t play a huge role, he provides a key to the plot. Tekka is said to be a village elder on Jakku, the desert planet where Rey lives and where the action reportedly kicks off. We’ve heard a lot about Luke Skywalker being missing, and according to this report, Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) tracks Von Sydow down, hoping to find out clues about the missing Jedi’s whereabouts. This jibes with other rumblings we’ve encountered, that Poe is on a mission from "a certain princess," and it would make sense that Leia would want to find her missing brother. This would also provide a way for the three new core characters — Poe, Rey, and Finn — to come together. However it goes down, we can’t wait to see Von Sydow on screen, as the 86-year-old actor is always incredible.

Luke Skywalker

There’s been a lot of talk about how we haven’t seen much of Luke Skywalker so far, just that one clip that all you really see is his hand — though we did hear his voice. He’s not even on that new poster. To be honest, I doubt we’ll see him before the actual movie. Up to this point, the rumors surrounding his role have all generally followed the theme of no one knows where he is and the plot revolves around the other characters trying to find him. We know he’ll be back for Episode VIII, and the prevailing logic is that we won’t actually see him until near the end of The Force Awakens. If that’s the case, you have to presume that Lucasfilm and Abrams don’t want to give away too much in the promotion, and it is increasingly unlikely that he’ll show up at all in the marketing.

By now, odds are you’ve watched that new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer like a dozen times, maybe more. The previous two have each featured characters talking over the action, but this time out, there are a ton of voices to be heard. Most of them are easy to identify, as they correspond with a character we see on screen—Rey, Finn, Kylo Ren—but there’s one mysterious female voice dispensing sage wisdom that remains entirely off screen.

The prevailing logic going around the internet today is that this is the voice of Maz Kanata, an entirely CGI character played by Oscar-winner Lupita Nyong’o. Some people are stating this like it’s absolute fact, and though we don’t know where they’re getting confirmation, this is the theory appears sound from where we sit.

By process of elimination, this is an easy conclusion to arrive at. There are only four substantial female roles that we know of in The Force Awakens. You have Daisy Ridley’s Rey, and she’s on the other side of this conversation, so we know it’s not her. Generations of Star Wars fans raised on the saga can tell you that it’s not Carrie Fisher, so Leia is out. And it’s no shocker to say that there’s no way in hell that this is Gwendoline Christie’s Captain Phasma, for a variety of reasons. All of this really leaves one option: Maz Kanata.

There’s not a ton known about her at this point. We’ve seen photos of Nyong’o in her motion capture suit performing the character, but that new poster that appeared a few days back gave us our first look at the character aside from some concept art. And while we don’t know her precise role, if she’s on the poster, she must at least play some key part—hell, Luke Skywalker isn’t even on the poster.

She is said to be a pirate, and when that Vanity Fair spread came out earlier this year, we got a look at the wide variety of aliens, creatures, and general space scoundrels who hang out at her pad. Given the shady, rogue nature of her character, you have to wonder if she could be someone from Han Solo’s past, part of his days as a rough and tumble smuggler and general ne’er-do-well.

With her line of work, that would make a great deal of sense, and it also ties into another intriguing bit in the trailer. That old, brightly colored castle, stronghold, enclave, or whatever you want to call it—the one with the cool looking droid and all the banners—looks very much like it could be where she lives. It certainly fits with the general aesthetic we saw in the VF photos, a kind of oasis for outlaws and other individuals who prefer not to be found. This spot is also said to be located on the planet Takodana.

If Maz Kanata is indeed a face from Han’s past, or maybe he just likes to keep one foot in the underworld—those sort of alliances can come in handy in a pinch—the question is why does he take Finn and Rey there? Are they looking for clues, perhaps to lead them to Luke Skywalker’s whereabouts? Do they need shelter? Is this a good place to lay low and hide out while things are hairy elsewhere?

If this is the case, this is presumably where the conversation between Maz and Rey goes down, and the implication is that she has some knowledge of the Force. Does this mean she’s a Jedi? Is she simply in tune with the more spiritual side of this galaxy far, far away? She obviously knows something, imploring Rey to let the Force wash over her.

In the trailer, it appears that the history and the lore of the Jedi may have been largely forgotten, illustrated by when Han tells Rey and Finn that all the stories are true and how shocked they look. It is entirely possible that Maz Kanata serves as a kind of historian, a keeper of the oral history, of the old traditions, and these young folk need some schooling. This could be one way to get a bunch of information out without it feeling like a huge dump.

At this stage, it’s hard to tell if Maz Kanata is someone the characters should trust or not. If you look in the midst of all of those waving banners outside the castle, you will notice a Jiang Skull, which is most widely known as the symbol of the Mandalorians, the nomadic warrior culture Boba Fett belongs to. While there are certainly some less-than-savory folks frequenting this particular location, the Mandalorians are not known as a particularly friendly bunch.

Granted, that’s a broad statement, but it’s enough to make you wonder about Maz Kanata’s allegiances, if they can be bought, or if she has any at all. The real question is can she be trusted? Will she sell them out like Lando in Empire? Would Han have dropped in if there was any other choice? Perhaps this is a desperation move and they have no other options, but for now we don’t know if she’s a bad guy, good guy, or something more complicated. My bet is on complicated.

As expected, the latest Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer leaves us with more questions than it answers. Though we see glimpses and bits and pieces, the plot remains largely vague and nebulous at this point, but this latest look at the film certainly gives us a great deal to mull over, break down, argue about, and otherwise examine. Should be more than enough to keep us occupied until December 18. Assuming you can get tickets.

Just in case you didn’t know, Star Wars fans go kind of nuts for the franchise. Over the last few months, they've gone above and beyond in their attempts to try and acquire every little ounce of information regarding the upcoming seventh installment to the relatively successful series. But there’s one character that they’re not going to get any information on until the film’s opening day: Lupita Nyong’o’s Maz Kanata.

While speaking to Fandango at the D23 Expo 2015 last weekend, the Oscar-winning actress did a very good job keeping details of her character firmly under wraps. Before then emphasising that she doesn’t think we’ll get to see Maz Kanata in all her glory until we see the finished version of Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the big screen. Lupita Nyong’o explained:

Fancy have a quick peek at what Lupita Nyong’o, who won her Oscar for her intoxicatingly powerful performance as Patsey in Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave, looks like covered in little dots? Thought so. Full disclosure: It will not in any way give you a clue about her Star Wars character. Still, enjoy!

But Lupita Nyong’o might not be correct in her assumption that fans will have to wait to see Maz Kanata until Force Awakens actually hits screens. That’s because sneaky little spoilers for films can manifest themselves in a variety of different ways nowadays, including through the release of merchandise and toys. While Star Wars’ inevitably monstrous marketing campaign is almost certainly going to feature her at some point, too.

All that we really know about Maz Kanata is that Lupita Nyong’o’s performance comes courtesy of performance capture technology, while it’s also been teased that she is a pirate who possibly owned a castle, and might have operated a base that hosted smugglers and other galaxy gangsters. Basically she sounds like a right rapscallion.

You can check out Fandango’s full interview with Lupita Nyong’o, as well as their discussion with the likes of John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, and J.J. Abrams below.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is due out on December 18, and there are going to be quite a few people interested in it. Heck, even George Lucas will probably go and watch it. Maybe.

Star Wars fans received a rather incomplete vision of Lupita Nyong'o's Force Awakens character last week when a host of new images arrived online. This is because the images merely showed the actress outfitted in a motion capture suit instead of actually showing off what she would ultimately look like. We're still waiting on an official image, but for now we have this bit of leaked concept art:

Indie Revolver - which has been a reliable source where Star Wars: The Force Awakens concept art has been concerned - has revealed this new piece, identifying it as Lupita Nyong'o's character Maz Kanata in the film. The character has been described as a pirate - perhaps setting her up as a Han Solo-esque rogue in the Star Wars canon - and she evidently control's an entire castle. It is here that "Galactic travelers, smugglers, and other assorted riffraff" all gather. Sounds quite a bit like the Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars: A New Hope, no?

The folks behind the production of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - particularly director J.J. Abrams - have regularly spoken about the desire to make the film as practical as possible, and only use CGI where it's really necessary. Looking at the design of Maz Kanata, one can understand why the filmmakers decided to go the motion-capture route. No amount of prosthetics and makeup would be able to turn the beautiful 12 Years A Slave Academy Award winner into the alien you see above.

Thankfully, there are some pretty talented people working on Star Wars: The Force Awakens who know a thing or two about motion capture. This not only includes the many talented CGI artists that the production has employed, but also Andy Serkis - who is a bit of a legend in that particular field. In fact, he may very well be playing a motion capture role in the film himself, though that has not yet been confirmed either way.

In the months ahead, one can imagine that we will eventually get to see Maz Kanata pop up in the marketing for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it may currently be too early in the process to reveal the full CGI look. Be sure to stay tuned for more updates in the coming months - particularly towards the end of the summer and the beginning of fall - and look for the seventh chapter in the Star Wars saga to hit theaters on December 17th.