16 Actors Confirmed For Star Wars Episode IX

9. Lupita Nyong'o - Maz Kanata

Swing and a miss as far as it looked like Maz was going to be the new trilogy's Yoda. We know she's far more powerful than any scenes on screen have shown, and there was deleted Episode VII footage where Kanata used the Force to bring down huge chunks of her own base on top of various stormtroopers.

Going into Episode IX, it's actually surprising Nyong'o is back on the cast. Episode VIII only featured Maz as this crowbarred-in "advisory" role where she was contacted for information on how to escape the First Order fleet, and that could've easily been the last we ever see of her.

Taking her Jedi-like ways from Episode VII and adding the action-loving side we saw in Episode VIII should make for a role that finally capitalises on all her marketing and on-screen potential.