Last month, we learned more about John Boyega’s character in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" (most notably that he’s one of the film’s 3 leads). Now the mystery that is Lupita Nyong’o’s character isn’t as much of a mystery anymore, thanks to a new Vanity Fair magazine spread on the highly-anticipated movie, which includes the photography of famed photographer Annie Leibovitz, who traveled to the film’s set and shot never-before-seen images of characters played by Nyong’o and others not featured in the trailers we’ve seen thus far.
We can now say with certainty that Nyong’o’s character will be computer generated, as you can see in the above image of the Oscar-winning actress covered in C.G.I. tracking dots for motion-tracking. Further, we also learn that her character is a pirate named Maz Kanata, who apparently owns a castle where "galactic travelers, smugglers, and other assorted riffraff" gather. Beyond that, the character is still a mystery, in terms of what her specific storyline is, her motivations, where her loyalties lie, her overall contributions to the main narrative, etc. We’ll find out soon enough.
At the moment, she’s filming Mira Nair’s "Queen of Katwe" in Uganda.
Also of note, director J. J. Abrams shared that he’s thinking about killing off the very controversial Jar Jar Binks character from "The Phantom Menace" – the computer generated bumbling Gungan from the planet Naboo, who drew much attention from the media and fans alike; the character was widely rejected and ridiculed by people who felt that Jar Jar was a racial caricature. Abrams told Vanity Fair, "I have a thought about putting Jar Jar Binks’s bones in the desert there. I’m serious! Only three people will notice, but they’ll love it."
For more inside info on what may or may not be included in the film, check out the full spread at Vanity Fair’s website here.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opens in December, likely to a record box office opening weekend, I predict.