Maz Kanata was featured on the poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens and could be heard in the first official TV spot, so it's become apparent recently that the mysterious character is going to play a key role in this highly anticipated release. As many of you have already guessed after watching that latest preview, she does have some sort of power thanks to her eyes, and J.J. Abrams had this to say about how that's going to factor into the movie. "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." Lupita Nyong’o added: "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."
The director wouldn't reveal too many specifics, but did go on to drop at least a few details about Maz Kanata's backstory. "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." It sounds an awful lot like she's going to be this franchise's Yoda then, but will Star Wars: The Force Awakens squeeze in her origin story? Not exactly. Instead, that information is going to be delivered via various tie-in materials. "All that backstory will be forthcoming," Abrams confirmed. "In the movie, you don’t learn these things, but I know that these are things that are coming out in other venues." What do you think?