Every Star Wars movie needs a spiritual guru. It seems Maz is filling that role in The Force Awakens.
There have been plenty of crazy rumors regarding the seventh episode in the Star Wars saga. One of the earliest was that Lupita Nyong’o’s role was that of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s granddaughter. Well, it’s safe to say that one is pretty false. Instead, she’ll be playing the pirate sage Maz Kanata, an old character who has a seemingly strong connection to the past… and possibly the Force.
If you’re wondering just who this creature is, we’ve created this guide to piece together all the information we have on her to help you find out.
Who’s playing her?
Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave, Non-Stop), in a motion capture performance.
What’s Maz Kanata’s deal?
She’s a thousand year old space pirate. Rumor has it she has a castle on a forest planet that Han, Finn, and Rey visit:
As for her backstory, according to Nyong’o this is what we’ll know in the film:
“Her history is that she was a pirate for a long time. She’s lived over a thousand years. She’s had this watering hole for about a century, and it’s like another bar that you’d find in a corner of the Star Wars universe. All that backstory will be forthcoming. In the movie, you don’t learn these things, but I know that these are things that are coming out in other venues.”
If she’s a thousand years old, did she know Yoda?
Probably not. Not all old small creatures need to know each other.
What does she look like?
Here’s she is on the official poster:
Here’s some older leaked concept art of her:
What’s with her goggles?
According to an Entertainment Weekly interview with J.J. Abrams:
Her eyes have special meaning and power. “I had some specific ideas about how she would work and what she would do,” Abrams says. “I had this pitch about these goggles that she wore. Her eyes are an important aspect of her character, and you’ll see how it plays out.”
Perhaps she can see the world and/or the Force in ways regular people can’t. Like Riddick, she probably wears her goggles to temper that ability so she’s not overwhelmed all the time.
Is she Force sensitive?
Possibly, though it’s unconfirmed.
Is she a good guy or a bad guy?
That one is a bit harder to discern. She’s a pirate, so automatically that means she can’t be trusted. However, all her dialogue we’ve heard in the trailers thus far has been sage-like and encouraging regarding people embracing the Force.
It also looks like she hands Leia Anakin’s lightsaber in this shot in the film:
What will be her role in The Force Awakens?
As we’ve speculated before, we think Maz is going to be the wise old figure who’s a tie to a past full of wonder. Obviously, Han Solo is going to be the immediate Obi-Wan figure, but he doesn’t know all that much about the Force. Maz, on the other hand, will be the one who can tell us about the way Jedi used to be since Luke is most likely not going to be there to relay that kind of information.
Will she be in Episode VIII?
We don’t know. Thus far, nothing has been officially confirmed.
