'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Director Confirms Trailer Did Feature Lupita Nyong'o; Reveals Her Image And Backstory Ahead Of Film's Release

With “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” a little more than one month away, director J.J. Abrams has done a shockingly good job of not revealing any spoilers for the upcoming film. However, the director loosened his lips a little bit recently in order to reveal the breakout star of the latest TV spot, Lupita Nyong’o’s character Maz Kanata.

The “12 Years a Slave” Oscar-winner’s voice was featured in the latest new footage from the film. In it, many people believe she teased a major family connection between the new character Rey (Daisy Ridley) and returning characters Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Leia (Carrie Fisher) with the lines:

“I have lived long enough to see the same eyes in different people. I see your eyes. I know your eyes.”

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, the director not only confirmed that it was Nyong’o speaking, but also went as far as to reveal that fans have already seen what her motion-capture character will look like when the film hits theaters on Dec. 18. Maz Kanata was subtly placed in the busy poster for the movie, which debuted earlier in October. The short goggled alien can be seen in the image above standing to the left of R2-D2 and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels).

The director confirmed to the outlet that the character is very important to the overall plot of not just “The Force Awakens” but the grander “Star Wars” trilogy. In fact, the line about her eyes is more than just a clever saying from a wise old sage.

“That’s Max,” the director confessed about the poster. “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.”

The director went on to reveal that the character has lived over a thousand years and, in “The Force Awakens,” she’s the proprietor of a bar that the characters eventually visit. Unfortunately, the director refused to share details about who Kanata is talking to in the voice over for the recently released TV spot. He did hint that the character will be integral to the plot of the new movie, but admitted that her backstory won’t be explored in it. However, he did say that books and videogames are already being planned to help flesh out Kanata’s origins at some point in the future. In the meantime, Polygon reports that the TV spot will air for the first time after ABC’s TGIT lineup of television on Nov. 12.

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