Key Takeaways:
– J.J. Abrams discussed a deleted scene from ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ that involved Maz Kanata and Leia.
– The scene featured Maz handing over the Skywalker lightsaber to Leia.
– Abrams explained that the scene was excluded due to narrative issues.
– The acquisition of the Skywalker lightsaber by Maz Kanata was finally addressed in ‘Star Wars Canon’.
– ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ is currently available for streaming on Disney+.
Understanding the Scene’s Removal
In the initial trailer of ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’, a fascinating scene featuring Maz Kanata, played by Lupita Nyong’o, handing over the renowned Skywalker lightsaber to Leia, played by the late Carrie Fisher, caught the fans’ attention. However, the scene was left out of the final movie version, leading to speculation among fans.
Director J.J. Abrams shed light on the matter in an interview with EW in 2015. Abrams clarified the scene was filmed in reality but was removed as it complicated the narrative.
Understanding Maz’s Role and the Lightsaber Mystery
Maz’s journey with the main characters to the Resistance base was part of the initial plotline. Nonetheless, Abrams noted that Maz didn’t serve any crucial role at the base, hence the decision to cut this part of the narrative. Instead, the final version showed Maz trying to give the lightsaber directly to Daisy Ridley’s character Rey, who rejects it due to a disturbing Force vision.
The mystery of how Maz came into possession of the lightsaber was never explicitly stated in the movie. This narrative gap fueled extensive fan speculation and discussion.
Revealing Maz’s Acquisition of the Lightsaber in Star Wars Canon
The unexplained narrative of the Skywalker lightsaber is spiked when Han Solo, portrayed by Harrison Ford, inquires how Maz obtained this weapon. Maz chooses to keep it a secret, even though the lightsaber significantly impacts Rey’s journey.
The fans’ curiosity about how Maz gained possession of the Skywalker lightsaber was finally addressed in the ‘Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – The Visual Dictionary’. It is revealed that Maz obtained the lightsaber from miners on Bespin’s Cloud City, where it fell during the fight between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.
This storyline is further expanded in ‘Star Wars #4’, a Marvel canon comic. The comic reveals that an Ugnaught miner found and kept the lightsaber, from whom Maz likely purchased it during her galactic search for priceless artifacts.
Why Removing the Scene was a Wise Decision
The narrative behind Maz getting the lightsaber is complex, and including Leia in the sequence would have further complicated the storyline. Moreover, as Abrams and the scriptwriters likely had not decided the entire trilogy plot in advance, the scene between Leia and Maz was perhaps deleted to evade potential narrative difficulties.
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ achieved global acclaim notwithstanding the deleted scene. Fans can watch the movie on Disney+. Knowing the backstory finally provides an understanding of a significant narrative question that has intrigued fans for a long time.
