As we eagerly await the arrival of the next Star Wars movie, the franchise is continuing to branch out its canon in some compelling ways. One of the most prolific examples of that has been the Star Wars comics, which has deliberately expanded upon the backstories of characters from across the galaxy far, far away. Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca #7, which debuts in comic shops later this week, joins that list to a surprising extent, showcasing a new chapter in the past of a fan-favorite sequel trilogy character.
The preview, which you can check out below, reveals that Maz Kanata (Lupita N’yongo) spent some time on the prison planet of Gulhadar, where she crossed paths with her onscreen friend (and occasional crush) Chewbacca. This is just the latest comic appearance from Maz, who previously appeared in Marvel’s High Republic comics last year.
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Who is Star Wars’ Maz Kanata?
Originally debuting onscreen in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Maz was a Force-sensitive “pirate queen” with ties throughout the galaxy, who became a crucial part of the Resistance’s fight against the First Order. She later appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and became an essential part of the film’s goodbye to Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher).
“She’s a highly mechanized animatronic,” Creature And Special Make-Up Effects Creative Supervisor Neal Scanlan said in a 2020 interview with CinemaBlend. “The major thing was that often when we do something in animatronics, we perform that character almost in a remote situation. So the character may be there in front of the camera, but the puppeteers are somewhere else. In this case, we used a data suit that was worn by a puppeteer and as that person would move, Maz would mimic it. There was a puppeteer who was responsible for the dialogue, and there was a puppeteer responsible for the eye line and the expressions. Those puppeteers could be right next to J.J. [Abrams], and they could see Maz and they could be in the scene.”
“She represented more to us than just an animatronic. She represented bringing the animatronic very much more intimately into the scene. And obviously because it was involved with the Leia sequences, that was something that J.J. had pushed us to try and do as well. He wanted those that were involved in those sequences to be intimately involved, and that included the animatronics.”
What do you think of Maz Kanata appearing in the new issue of Han Solo & Chewbacca? Share your thoughts with us in the commentss below!
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Comics
