New Details on Chewbacca and Maz Kanata's Roles in STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI

I've actually been extremely curious about how Chewbacca will be handled in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. After all, he witnessed the cold-blooded murder of his best friend by his own son! Because of that, you'd think there was a darkness surrounding him due to his grief. It doesn't sound like that will be the case, though.

Director Rian Johnson explains that Chewie won't be depressed in the movie, but he will be a little more volatile. Regardless of the loss of his friend, it sounds like Chewie is going to be ok.

“Chewie’s doing all right. It’s tough. It was obviously a big loss for him, but, you know, he’s Chewie. He’s resilient. He's got broad Wookiee shoulders, and he also has a new mission. He’s got Rey, and she’s someone that Han, to a certain extent, handed the keys to. So I think that that helps.”

The director says that it could be a lot harder for Chewie to deal with if he was stuck at home with nothing to do:

“If Chewie was just unemployed and sitting at home, things might be a little rougher, but he’s got a task to focus on."

Rey and Chewbacca are going to make for a fun and interesting dynamic. Maybe he will be the new father figure that she looks up to! One thing I'm really looking forward to seeing, though, is the Luke Skywalker and Chewbacca reunion.

As for as Maz Kanata (Lupita Nyong’o) goes, she will play a much smaller role in The Last Jedi than in The Force Awakens. All Johnson would say about her character was:

“She has a smaller part in this than she has in The Force Awakens, but it’s a really fun part, and Lupita is so awesome. I’m just happy I got to work with her.”

“This was my first time working with mo-cap characters and working with actors in that way. I feel like I got such an incredible education watching Lupita work.”

I'm sure Maz will play a role in revealing some history regarding the characters since she seems to have insights into the past. To catch up on all of our Star Wars: The Last Jedi news, click here. There was a lot of it last week!