One of the more interesting and enjoyable supporting players introduced back in J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens was Maz Kanata. The wise old woman, played by Lupita Nyong’o, was shown to have a lot of knowledge on the Force and the ways of the Jedi. Intriguingly, she also had Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber in her possession until she handed it over to Rey. It was surprising, then, to see that Maz ended up with a pretty small role in Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
That’s not to say she wasn’t important to the plot. Far from it, in fact, as she was actually crucial in helping the Resistance as it was her that introduced Finn and Rose to DJ, “the master codebreaker hanging out on Canto Bight” that was brought to life so wonderfully by Benicio Del Toro. But still, you can’t deny that her inclusion in the movie was certainly a bit awkward and felt pretty forced, which has left many to wonder whether she’ll show up in Star Wars: Episode IX.
We still don’t have a firm answer on that just yet, but a new plot leak says that not only will she have a role in Abrams’ upcoming threequel, but it’ll be a big one and might just reveal how she happened to come across Luke’s lightsaber. Before we proceed any further though, we’ll say that this should be taken with a grain of salt, but it certainly makes for interesting, and spoiler-y, reading.
This new intel comes to us from Mike Zeroh, a notorious Star Wars tipster who’s been right about a lot in the past when it comes to plot leaks and the like. This time, he’s telling us that in Episode IX, Maz will find herself with a big new spaceship, which apparently has “huge metallic wings that are like the sails on a pirate ship.” From what we understand, Rey will join her here and it’s speculated that this is when she’ll reveal how she got Luke’s lightsaber.
Though the exact details are still unclear, Zeroh believes that Lando’s the one responsible for it falling into her hands. After Return of the Jedi, he says that Calrissian came back to Cloud City and found the weapon. Thinking that Maz would know what to do with it, he took it to her and that’s how she got her hands on it. Also, before you start asking how the two characters know of one another, apparently they’re old pals and the film will even feature a scene between them on Maz’s ship.
Unfortunately, that’s all we’ve got in regards to Kanata’s role in Star Wars: Episode IX, and again, this should all be filed strictly in the rumor cabinet for now. But that being said, it certainly does sound plausible and with any luck, we’ll get some confirmation on how she’ll be involved in the pic sooner rather than later.