Maz Kanata Was Not a CGI Character in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The Lupita Nyong’o-voiced Maz Kanata returned to the screen in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but this time she wasn’t just CGI. Cinema Blend spoke with the effects team for the film, and creature/special make-up effects supervisor Neal Scanlan revealed that Maz was an animatronic character.

“She represented more to us than just an animatronic,” Scanlan said. “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.”

Scanlan added that the puppet was “the most advanced animatronic that I believe, certainly, that we’ve ever made. In so many ways she was the most advanced from the way that she was performed… She’s a highly mechanized animatronic.”

The film is currently in theaters and has grossed $458.5 million domestically and $936.2 million worldwide thus far.