The first official pictures of Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o) from Star Wars: The Force Awakens have finally been released by Lucasfilm and Disney. It’s amazing we’ve waited this long for a small screen look at the film’s two key all-CGI characters considering it’s in the process of passing $700 million at the domestic box office.
Nyong’o’s Maz character took some heat after The Force Awakens opened for either being a Yoda ripoff or unnecessarily CGI depending on who you talked to. The high-res image of Maz below, courtesy of EW, helps to reinforce the idea that she would have been a challenging character to pull off with traditional makeup or puppetry without some serious design changes.
Supreme Leader Snoke is a character shrouded in mystery. There’s a lot of Internet speculation that the man pulling Kylo Ren’s strings is Darth Plagueis the Wise, an ancient Sith Lord etched into the cinematic canon when told through a story to Anakin Skywalker by Chancellor Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith.
Update: the official Star Wars Twitter account has added an additional look at Maz and Snoke:
You've got to have someone to look up to. Supreme Leader Snoke in #StarWars #TheForceAwakens. pic.twitter.com/TeVs5l476N
— Star Wars (@starwars) January 4, 2016
"I see your eyes… I know your eyes." Maz Kanata in #StarWars #TheForceAwakens. pic.twitter.com/N20DFQvXBQ
— Star Wars (@starwars) January 3, 2016
Snoke’s physical appearance as a disfigured humanoid took many by surprise, as did his size with a head whose height is the same as Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). EW’s suggests that Snoke is an all-new character and not Darth Plagueis, and all we can do until Star Wars: Episode VIII rolls around is continue to stare at him in holographic form and speculate.
