The fourth episode of The Acolyte is almost here, and one of the stars of that episode is Bazil, the Tynnan tracker. You’ve seen Bazil already but probably don’t realise it; he was glimpsed at distance in the trailer leading the Jedi across the wilds of….well, you’ll see tomorrow but for now StarWars.com spoke with Creature Cantina supremo Neal Scanlan about Bazil, PIP, Kelnacca and more.
Glimpsed on the series’ key art and in Funko Pop! form, StarWars.com is delighted to give you your first up-close look at Bazil, performed by Hassan Taj. True to their earliest descriptions — Tynnans date back to the 1979 novel Han Solo’s Revenge by Brian Daley — the endearing tracker has elements of beavers and otters incorporated into his extremely cute features. And, yes, Scanlan and his team did purposely make him look extra darling by design.
“We spoke about those kinds of things,” Scanlan says, with the team creating their own headcanon backstory to help bring each new alien to life. “We thought about how we could include some of these things that were not only, you know, cute and lovable and adorable, but also showed signs of a bigger sort of character makeup. A character like this is much more engaging,” Scanlan adds. “What qualities are [fans of all ages] going to see in him that they would identify with? That will only work if they feel like there’s an element that they could give him a cuddle or that he’s friendly. You know, it’s an important part of, I think, the Star Wars world.”
Bazil’s role in the story was one of the most important factors to consider in his design, ensuring that he was created with a more prominent snout to sniff out his quarries. A visor and helmet adds to the sensory deprivation when Bazil needs to focus on the task at hand and really tune out the rest of the outside world. “Bazil was very sensory, so he would obviously smell and hear things probably better than using his eyesight,” Scanlan adds. “The idea of having goggles was that he would then sort of go inwardly and become the tracker.”
Eagle-eyed attendees at The Acolyte premiere on Leicester Square would have spotted Hassan, and here you can see our chat with him back in 2019 on the blue carpet at the premiere of The Rise of Skywalker, where he was inside R2-D2. You’ll also be able to meet Hassan at FanX Live on Sunday 6th October in Farnborough where he’ll be signing.
For much, much more from the Creature Shop be sure to pick up issue 227 of Star Wars Insider magazine, out 20th August in the States where the Insider team visited Creature Cantina and we sat down with Neal Scanlan to delve into the creatures and droids of The Acolyte.
- Hardcover Book
- Córdova, Zoraida (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 336 Pages - 08/27/2024 (Publication Date) - Random House/Star Wars (Publisher)
