Star Wars: The Force Awakens reintroduced viewers to the galaxy far far away long after the time of Luke Skywalker and the rebel alliance’s fight against the Empire. The first installment in the sequel trilogy focuses on Daisy Ridley’s Rey, as she finds her calling through the lightsaber that once belonged to the Skywalker family.
While Rey comes in contact with the lightsaber through Maz Kanata, how the latter got hold of it in the first place was never explained. Furthermore, a deleted scene that featured in the trailer but not in the final cut would have only added to the confusion behind it. Director J.J. Abrams addressed the deleted scene and explained why it would have created a narrative issue.
J.J. Abrams Explains Why One Star Wars: The Force Awakens Scene Was Deleted
When Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer first debuted, fans saw how Daisy Ridley’s Rey would end up on the path to becoming a Jedi warrior. At the same time, it also brought back the lightsaber belonging to Anakin Skywalker and later to his son, Luke Skywalker, before it was lost during the duo’s duel on Bespin.
In the trailer, Maz Kanata is seen handing over the lightsaber to Leia, played by the late Carrie Fisher. However, this scene was deleted from the final film, and director J.J. Abrams addressed the same in an interview with EW in 2015.
“That was a scene actually filmed, but we took (it) out. At one point, Maz used to continue along with the characters back to the Resistance base, but we realized that she really had nothing to do there of value, except to be sitting around,”
Abrams said explaining why the scene featuring Maz Kanata handing over the lightsaber to Leia was cut from the final film. Instead, in the final cut, Maz Kanata attempts to give the lightsaber to Rey directly, who rejects it after a disturbing Force vision. However, neither Abrams nor the sequel trilogy ever bothered to explain how Maz obtained the lightsaber in the first place.
How Maz Kanata Acquiring Luke Skywalker’s Lightsaber Was Explained in Star Wars Canon
In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when Han Solo asks Maz Kanata how she obtained the Skywalker lightsaber, she refuses to explain. The lightsaber later played an important role in Rey’s story and she eventually buried it with Leia’s lightsaber on Tatooine. However, how it came into Maz’s possession remained a mystery.
The answer was finally provided in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – The Visual Dictionary, where it is revealed that Maz had obtained the lightsaber from miners on Bespin’s Cloud City after it fell into the lower levels during Darth Vader’s fight with Luke Skywalker.
In Star Wars #4, a canon comic published by Marvel, it is revealed that an Ugnaught miner found the lightsaber and kept it, presumably for safeguarding. Hence, Maz likely purchased the lightsaber from the Ugnaught while searching for priceless artifacts across the galaxy.
Ultimately, the explanation behind Maz acquiring the lightsaber is convoluted, and adding Leia to the mix would have only made matters more confusing. Furthermore, Abrams and the writing team likely had not planned the entire sequel trilogy in advance. Hence, Abrams presumably removed the scene between Leia and Maz to avoid writing himself into a corner.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens is streaming on Disney+.
