Star Wars: The Force Awakens Comic Con Trailer Breakdown – 46 Things You Need To See

And when you see shots like this of the intricately designed and painted alien costumes, it's no wonder that Abrams has committed himself to a more practical approach.

Though Jabba the Hutt remains mostly an exception to the rule, there's something too soulless about completely animated characters that means they're either entirely unrelatable or they end up being grotesque caricatures like they were in the Prequel trilogy.

This alien appears to be one of Maz Kanata's pirates - as confirmed by the Vanity Fair shoot, in fact - who have a good chance of stealing the first film if they're the band of charming scallywags they appear to be.