Inside The Acolyte Creature Shop: Meet Bazil, the Tynnan Tracker - First Details

Disarmingly charming Bazil

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.”

Among his cinematic inspirations, Scanlan used Marty Feldman’s Igor in Young Frankenstein as a touchstone. “It was one of the oddly inspiring things for me when I spoke to Leslye [Headland, the series creator,] about it.” In the Mel Brooks comedy, Igor appears to be shorter in stature, but his personality looms as large as the rest of the characters. “We just felt that this could be a really useful tool for Bazil. He's tiny, but [in camera you] shoot him in that kind of directorial style whereby his presence was equal, if not in some ways more commanding than those around him.”

A Wookiee Jedi

Scanlan and his crew have worked on Chewbacca the Wookiee in several previous Star Wars films, including Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Solo: A Star Wars Story. Kelnacca, however, was a different beast altogether. Although they are the same species and played by the same actor, Kelnacca’s affiliation with the Jedi Order called for a more stately appearance and refined features to allow for more emotional responses.

From the top of his head, where a topknot ponytail is flanked by an undercut that shows off a smattering of tattoos, to the tips of his very hairy toes, Kelnacca is a more refined version of the Wookiees that have come before. “It’s sort of an Adonis sort of ponytail. When he let his hair down, it would be rather stunning,” Scanlan says with a laugh.

To match the Jedi’s more intellectualized intelligence, Scanlan’s team incorporated a more articulate mouth and discreet color choices to essentially contour the pattern of his facial fur. “He’s more expressive, which we felt set him apart from the Chewie version that we've seen before. He has lighter, more bushy eyebrows, and a fuller mustache area. There’s more ginger in the cheeks. The hair over his brows is a little longer and gives a nice kind of framing to the top of his face to where his eyes are. It's difficult to see facial movements under that long hair.”

And, of course, this Wookiee wears Jedi robes, specially-made by costume designer Jennifer Bryan and her team.

Pocket-sized Pip

For The Acolyte’s most prominent droid character, Pip, Scanlan and his team were inspired by retro gaming consoles, the Sony Walkman®, and the pencil cases of their youth in their design of Osha’s pocket-sized sidekick.

“I am rather pleased with Pip as a design because it's the first handheld pocket droid that we've been involved with,” Scanlan says of the droid, performed on-screen by puppeteer Jack Parker. “We tried to choose a kind of late ‘70s to mid ‘80s design ethos. We also looked at things like Tamagotchis and those sorts of toys that people loved. You gotta keep Pip alive, you know! He's not just this thing.”

Four worn stickers can be seen on Pip’s body, homages to Loth-cats from Star Wars Rebels and other elements of Star Wars history. For his insides, animatronic designers had to work hard to strip down any excess parts and keep Pip’s mechanical motors and circuit boards to a minimum. But it was important to ensure the little droid could still communicate and emote effectively. “You want to connect to him. You want to be able to see some emotion, you know, human emotion. His little aerial antenna can retract and go backwards or forwards depending on if he was sad or excited.He actually ended up with as much electronics in him as any other droid we've ever made. He's compatible on a technological level,” Scanlan says. “You had to be able to take his head off and use his head as an independent tool. And you could have many bodies. You could have the drill and the Swiss Army knife version. You could have the version that did your hair for you in the morning. You had the welding version. “Probably even more than BB-8, I think that designing Pip with Leslye [Headland] was the most thorough investigation into a droid that we've ever done.”

A galaxy of creatures and aliens

But back to that noodle shop full of weird and wonderful patrons.

From the travelers brought together for a warm meal to the other alien inhabitants we’ve discovered on the Palwick prison ship and in the streets of Olega, explore even more of Scanlan’s work from The Acolyte in the gallery below.