The Story Behind C-3PO's Red Arm And The Strange Case Of Constable Zuvio

We're not going to learn the identity of Rey's parents soon, but we can take comfort and solace in that fact that other Star Wars: The Force Awakens questions now have answers and a few mysteries, albeit minor ones, have been resolved. Thanks to a new Marvel comic, we now know why C-3PO is sporting a red arm during the film and thanks to some new J.J. Abrams quotes, we now know what the hell was up with the cut-from-the-film Constable Zuvio.

Let's start with the C-3PO revelation, which doesn't sound that exciting on the surface but is actually handled extremely well in execution. The story of C-3PO's new arm was told in C-3PO #1, a one-shot comic from writer James Robinson and artist Tony Harris (the duo behind a truly great run on Starman that you should read). If you still plan to read the comic, stop now – spoilers lie ahead.

The short version: C-3PO survives a spaceship crash with a bunch of other droids, who are picked off one-by-one by the dangerous creatures and environments of a hostile world. C-3PO has his arm ripped off by an unruly beast and he replaces it with the arm of a fallen droid who sacrifices himself so the golden protocol droid can escape.

However, the story is far more interesting on the page than it is in a summary. Robinson and Harris have essentially created a horror story, a tale of droids coming to terms with their own existences as they struggle to survive a brutal landscape. The droids talk about how they're tools for the masters and how many of them have lived several lives as their memories have been erased by new owners. It's a combination of visceral (the droids often perish horribly) and existential terror. The droid who sacrifices himself so C-3PO can get off planet is a First Order prisoner named Omri, who realizes that he values his new friend over a programmed allegiance to one side of the war. It's a surprisingly moving development and the comic ends with C-3PO deciding to keep Omri's arm for awhile to pay tribute to his fallen compatriots.

Star Wars Minute has put together a video summary of the comic if you're interested in additional details.

And now to our other mystery...which has a far less intriguing answer. Entertainment Weekly spoke to J.J. Abrams about Constable Zuvio, the Jakku lawman who got his own action figure and was showcased in various stills, only to never show up on screen. In fact, Abrams seems entirely unaware of Zuvio in the article, explaining:

If you look at any of the creature shop behind-the-scenes photographs or videos, you'll see that there are so many characters. And each one of them had a name and a designation. In every shot on Jakku we figured out where they would all go and what they would do.

In other words, The Force Awakens has so many creatures that how can he possibly keep track of them all! I'm not sure I buy that, but I'm also a bit of an irresponsible conspiracy theorist when it comes to my Star Wars news. After all, Constable Zuvio got his own official still image released alongside the likes of Finn and Rey! He even got his own premium Black Series Action figure! Abrams tackled that question too:

I guarantee you that as they were reviewing 'safe' characters that can be made into action figures and presented to the public, that was one of those characters.  They had no idea and, frankly, we wouldn't know either back when we were shooting, if he would end up in the final cut.

Once again, I raise my eyebrow at this answer, but I also don't have the energy or the willpower to concoct some kind of fantasy where Abrams is secretly covering up a delated Constable Zuvio subplot. You win this round, Abrams.