Was Maz Kanata In The Original Star Wars Trilogy?

It’s been far too long since we covered an insane and nearly impossible Star Wars theory. It has to have been at least a couple of hours. Luckily for us, the internet is full of ridiculous theories, so we never have to go too long before we find a new one. Our favorite theories revolve around Maz Kanata, and how she fits into the greater Star Wars universe. As a being of over 1000 years old, we know she had to have been around during the entirely of the film saga up until now. A new theory posits that we’ve actually seen her in nearly every Star Wars film to date. We just didn’t know it, because we never saw her face. According to the theory, she was actually one of the first characters we ever met in the first film. Maz Kanata was a Jawa.

Maz Kanata is a short, force sensitive alien, with an affinity for eyes and an apparent connection to the Skywalker family. The theory, as explained by Moviepilot, claims that in reality Maz Kanata was a force sensitive Jawa who was present at multiple points throughout the films. First off, Maz is approximately the right height, she’s on the tall side for a Jawa, but perfectly within range. Since we’ve never seen a Jawa’s face in the movies we have no idea what they look like, meaning they could all look like Maz, or they could all look different; it’s impossible to know. While we don’t see Maz Kanta’s eyes glowing yellow in Star Wars: The Force Awakens it’s also entirely possible that Jawas are wearing some kind of goggles in order to make their own eyes glow, which could help explain why Maz wears goggles at all. As we said, entirely circumstantial, but it could be true.

The theory then goes on to state that every time we see at least one Jawa in the previous films, it could have been Maz. Two Jawas watching a pod race in The Phantom Menace? Maybe Maz sensed the Force in Anakin as he flew by. In fact, several of the banners outside Maz’s establishment bear the same logos as that race.

Maz also may have been able to realize the importance of R2-D2 in A New Hope thanks to her Force abilities. This is why the droids are taken to Luke Skywalker, because she foresees his importance. This leads us to our favorite part of the theory: when R2 is grabbed by the Jawas there are exactly eight of them present, but when their bodies are discovered after the Stormtroopers destroy them, only seven bodies are on the ground. At least one of them apparently escaped. Also, there’s one Jawa inside Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi, but none seen on the sail barge when it gets destroyed. Did our hero Jawa escape again?

Is this theory utterly silly? Yes, but that doesn’t stop us from loving it. And it could be true. It might also explain why Anakin Skywalker had a statue that resembled Maz in his childhood bedroom. Where else would people make art about Jawas other than Tatooine?

Do you buy any of this? Is there a chance it could turn out to be true? Let us know your own Maz theory below.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.