J.J. Abrams discusses details about Lupito Nyong’o’s character Maz

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Yesterday saw the release of a ton of new images from THE FORCE AWAKENS (you can check 'em out here) as well as some sweet interview action with Harrison Ford. It looks like Entertainment Weekly is focusing on some of the newer characters today, as we now have some details regarding the character of Maz Kanata, of which Lupito Nyong'o provided motion capture for. Check it out!

J.J. Abrams on the character of Maz Kanata:

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. I had some specific ideas about how she would work and what she would do. 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.

I wanted to do the creature as a puppet originally, but once we figured out the things that she was required to do, it felt like [performance capture] was the way to go. Maz needed to look and feel and be just like one of those creatures. And given her mobility, and given the role that she played, it became clear that that was one creature where we should use the tool of CG. But the performance was all Lupita. She was there on set, and we did capture sessions afterwards as well, and I can’t say enough about working with her.

Lupito Nyong'o on playing her character:

As an actor for films, your eyes are a lot of the way you communicate anyway. So it was definitely a gift to have that be the means to her magic as a motion-capture character.

It's heavily implied that Maz is talking to Rey when you watch the trailers, but I'm curious to see if that's really the case. Also, I'd like to know just what kind of magic her eyes contain. The ability to see the future? A person's true potential? If the Hobbits are being taken to Isengard? We'll know in just about a month's time! And in case you want to hear more about the newer characters of THE FORCE AWAKENS, Entertainment Weekly states that they'll have piece on Andy Serkis' Supreme Leader Snoke later today! You can bet we'll have that information up for ya as soon as it drops!

STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS opens on December 18, 2015.