The Road to Episode Infinity: One 1970s Ralph McQuarrie painting inspires 4 Disney Era Star Wars Aliens

Ralph McQuarrie is the person most credited with designing the Star Wars universe. Vader, Chewbacca, C3-PO, R2-D2 and so many more Star Wars characters and locations might not be the cultural icons that they are, without McQuarrie’s creative vision. Though McQuarrie passed away in 2012 at the age of 82, new Star Wars projects continue to draw on his concept art for inspiration. One particular piece of concept art, hereafter referred to as the “McQuarrie Cantina Concept Art”, was particularly central in designing some new alien species for “The Force Awakens”.

The art in question shows Luke Skywalker encountering some shady characters at the Mos Eisley Spaceport Cantina, and though these creatures were not used in the 1977 original Star Wars film, many of these creatures have since been included in Disney’s Star Wars Galaxy.

Frigosian

The Frigosian species lived on the world of Tansyl 5. They were a diminutive species with yellow fur and domed shaped heads. Though they look harmless they actually hide a large mouth with many dagger-like teeth. On Tansyl 5, Frigosians were a nocturnal species and consequently would wear goggles to protect their eyes while off-planet. They also sported breathing apparatuses which are a bit more sizable in the McQuarrie Cantina Concept Art.

Two notable Frigosians, Thromba and Laparo, worked as Cryptosurgans in Maz Kanata’s castle. The two actually replaced their hands with surgical tools and would use these tools to perform cosmetic surgery on patients. Another Frignosian, Opeepit, worked as a janitor on Colossus platform as seen in “Star Wars: Resistance”.

Hassk

The Hassk were a particularly savage species from the planet Hasskyn. Hassk were covered in blue fur and were known to give birth to litters of offspring. Before contact with the Republic the species lived in a primitive fashion and hunted prey with their fangs, claws, and night vision. Once exposed to a larger galaxy many Hassk left their home planet and became criminals and pirates.

Two Hassk can be seen in the McQuarrie Cantina Concept Art which inspired the creation of the Hassk triplets seen in “The Force Awakens” at Maz Kanata’s Castle. These brothers were led by Varmik. Recently, more Hassk have been featured in the series “Star Wars: Resistance” and tend to be employed as Pirates.

Culisetto

Culisetto are a insectoid species that travelled the galaxy. The tube mouths were adept at drinking blood and they also had compound eyes.

Three Culisetto, known as the Dengue sisters, spent time in Maz Kanata’s castle playing their favorite board game, “Deia’s Dream”. Another Culisetto, Vorhdeilo, was a bounty hunter featured in the comic series “Darth Maul”.

The name "Culisetto" was inspired by a real life genus of mosquitoes called “Culiseta”.

Gozzo

A 2014 article on StarWars.com tells us that the owl creature from McQuarrie’s painting was going to be developed into a species for the Clone Wars Season 3 episode “Sphere of Influence”. Though the species never appeared in the final cut of the episode, concept art for the episode identifies this owl-like species as a “Sharalian”.

Later, another owl-like species can be seen in the series “Star Wars: Resistance”. The character Flix runs a mechanical shop on Collosus with his Chadra-Fan partner, Orka. A January 2019 article on StarWars.com tells us that Flix is a Gozzo, which was inspired by another piece of Ralph McQuarrie concept art. This concept art was created during the pre-production stages of “Return of the Jedi” and was an early design for Ewoks and Yuzzums. Even so, it seems to me that Flix could also have been inspired by the “Sharalian” in McQuarrie’s Cantina Concept Art.