Though all of the Star Wars movies have featured plots centralized around human characters, aliens have always helped bring the galaxy far, far away to life. From Chewie, to Jar Jar, and Yoda, alien species have played crucial roles in the stories of the Star Wars universe. Episode VII - The Force Awakens was no different, as fans witnessed the return of Chewbacca as well as new introductions like Lupita Nyongo’s Maz Kanata. It’s no surprise that one of the best scenes in The Force Awakens takes place inside of Kanata’s castle, which showcased a host of intriguing new alien creatures. Prepare for some of them, as well as even more new species to return to Episode 8 and later chapters.
IGN recently spoke with Star Wars creature effects supervisor Neal Scanlan. In the interview, Scanlan discusses the role of “legacy characters,” and the importance of their presence in future Star Wars movies. By legacy characters, Scanlan means the classic Star Wars species like Bith, Rodians, Twi'leks and Duros. These aliens have populated not only the Star Wars films, but spin-off content in the form of video games, comics, television and so on.
"It was very important to try to feel that there was a newness, a freshness to this, and that we're going to go somewhere in the future as well,” Scanlan told IGN. "I think the most important thing is that we continue to develop those characters that we take forward, some of the characters that we've created, and even some of the Legacy characters from the Original Trilogy, and that we try to improve upon them
“Whether one considers them to be more realistic or dark or more threatening or whatever, I'm not really sure,” he continued. “I think that's going to be down to Rian [Johnson]'s direction. But I think from what we're doing, we're definitely trying to push our techniques and continue to give the fans something fresh and new and exciting every time we go to it."
Let’s hope we can see more exciting legacy characters in Star Wars: Episode VIII and beyond. In the meantime, The Force Awakens is available on Blu-ray/DVD on April 5.
