One of the more intriguing supporting characters introduced in The Force Awakens was Maz Kanata. The wise old woman, played by Lupita N’yongo, was shown to have a lot of knowledge on the Force and the ways of the Jedi. Notably, she had Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber in her possession until she handed it over to Rey. It’s surprising, then, that we’ve now learned that Maz will have a reduced role in the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
This is yet another snippet of information that’s come from Entertainment Weekly‘s coverage of the film in their latest issue. According to director Rian Johnson, the character will have “a smaller part” to play this time around, but fans of the 1,000 year old orange alien shouldn’t be too disappointed, as she’ll get at least one “important moment in the spotlight” and could possibly even “deliver important information.”
“She has a smaller part in this than she has in The Force Awakens, but it’s a really fun part, and Lupita is so awesome, I’m just happy I got to work with her… This was my first time working with mo-cap characters and working with actors in that way, I feel like I got such an incredible education watching Lupita work.”
So, what could Maz’s “important moment” be in the movie? Seeing as there’s one major question we have about her that needs to be answered, it’s not too hard to work it out. With Luke being a prominent character in The Last Jedi, we could be about to get an explanation for how Maz Kanata ended up with his lightsaber.
One way or another, all will be revealed when Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives on December 15th.
