Home Entertainment A familiar menace returns to Star Wars Rebels this week

A familiar menace returns to Star Wars Rebels this week

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Darth Maul (1)

Any movie starring a combination of Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman and Ewan MacGregor should be a box office smash, not a film that history doesn’t fondly reflect back on. But for many fans, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, is a low point in the entire Star Wars franchise. But for all its various faults and instances of having Jar Jar Binks appear on the big screen, the Phantom Menace did give birth to something that actually added to the Star Wars mythos: Darth Maul.

A tiger in a black cloak, Darth Maul was a ferocious antagonist and a force-wielder that set the bar for future Jedi in the Star Wars franchise. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: That moment in the third act, where Maul ignites his double-bladed lightsaber so that he can fight both Qui-Gonn Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi is still one of the finest moments in cinematic history.

It’s just a pity that he only had around a few minutes of screen time in the entire trilogy. Fortunately, Star Wars: The Clone Wars saved the character from obscurity. Repurposing him into an adversary who took no sides in the Galactic Civil War, Darth Maul was now a seasoned antagonist and one of the most dangerous Force-wielders alive. He seemingly met his fate yet again when he crossed paths with his former master, Darth Sidious, but only the good die young. Evil is forever.

Earlier, a trailer for the second season of Star Wars Rebels revealed that Maul is still alive, an old master living in the ruins of a Sith temple on Malachor, a location that the Ghost crew has been searching for.”The genesis of this idea is actually kind of an interesting one,” Rebels producer Dave Filoni said to EW.

Darth Maul (2)

I had pointed out several times in story meetings that we have an opportunity – if we wanted to – to actually have Darth Vader fight Darth Maul. That was something that [co-producer] Simon Kinberg and I were like, ‘Oooh…’ Then there was the opponent in the story meetings who would say, ‘Well, that’s fan service,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah –exactly.’ [Laughs] I don’t see the problem with that, but you know we were very careful that we don’t just do things because they’re cool.

We want to do things that are story driven.

Maul is more than just potential fan service however. He’s also a possible mentor to Ezra Bridger, and possibly an unlikely ally in the fight against the Empire. “He’s this person who has been on the dark-side, that has been thrown out repeatedly from the Emperor’s hierarchy but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a lot of the same tendencies as the Emperor and have the same desire for power,” Filoni said.

It became a really interesting story to tell, and a challenge, because at face value, Maul isn’t a guy you look at and go, ‘I trust you, devil-looking guy with horns on your head.’ So we had to paint an interesting picture here to get this kid to perhaps believe in him. One of the big backstories was what has Maul been doing and how did he get to this planet, Malachor? The other story was what the heck happened on Malachor?

So I actually wrote a history of it and what goes on there a thousand years ago – which explains the stone figures, and the temple, and all the mechanism you see there.

Maul has cleary aged in the 15 years since the republic fell and the Empire took over. But don;t count him out yet. “What is just a lie in terms of his behaviour and what is actually the truth? People were commenting when we were recording the episode that they’d never seen a sincere, sweet Darth Maul,” voice actor Sam Witwer explained.

You know kind of a sweet, old man. To lie that convincingly, he has to understand the emotions he’s hitting. And in order to understand them, he must possess them in some degree. So in order to portray that level of sincerity, there’s got be some piece of him that is actually sincere.

Darth-Maul-CW

If there’s one character who deserves a definitive ending to his story, it’s Darth Maul. The more you explore of the former Sith Lord, the more you see that his tale is just as tragic as that of Anakin Skywalker, a fascinating parrallel that has been wonderfully fleshed out in the years since he appeared in the Phantom Menace.

Star Wars Rebels kicks off the season finale this week, with an hour-long special that is also promising a tense reunion between Darth Vader and his former apprentice, Ahsoka Tano.

Last Updated: March 30, 2016

13 Comments

  1. If only Darth Maul killed Jar Jar instead…. 11/10

    Reply

    • Captain JJ the Isolated

      March 30, 2016 at 12:30

      We’d be so lucky

      Reply

  2. Captain JJ the Isolated

    March 30, 2016 at 12:33

    So I only got to watch Episode VII recently.
    I liked it. Because Star Wars, but I was very disappointed in Disney’s typical approach to the story. It seems they now have a checklist that each of their movies needs to comply with in terms of story.
    Walt would roll over in his grave if he new how little creativity was left there.

    Reply

    • For the Emperor!

      March 30, 2016 at 12:36

      I hope they used the template as a starting point only (because it worked on many levels) and that the follow-ups will have more creativity. At least they proved they can make a good one (even if “uninspired”) which is a BIG step up from the Jar Jar trilogy.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ the Isolated

        March 30, 2016 at 12:40

        Seven was just so generic and relied only on the nostalgic value of the francise, not actual storytelling.
        In the end it felt like a typical Disney movie with a Star Wars skin.

        Reply

        • Hammersteyn

          March 30, 2016 at 12:41

          I was just so elated to see X-Wings And Tie fighters again

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the Isolated

            March 30, 2016 at 12:48

            Me too. Absolutely. But no new ships? Why not? I know the X-wings and Tie Fighters are iconic, but you can’t tell me that there haven’t been ANY new ships developed in all those years.
            So once again Disney just rode the nostalgia train, and didn’t bother with creativity

          • Hammersteyn

            March 30, 2016 at 12:55

            They um….um….made a lightsaber shaped like an upside down crucifix?

          • Captain JJ the Isolated

            March 30, 2016 at 13:01

            XD

          • For the Emperor!

            March 30, 2016 at 13:00

            True. Just look at the XWing tabletop game to see what variety there actually is!

        • For the Emperor!

          March 30, 2016 at 13:03

          Agreed there – can’t argue the use of nostalgic value. But rather that than the crap we got for I-III. The proof of the pudding for me now lies in Episode VIII. If they follow this same “nostalgia template” I will not be happy. Be creative! Be brave! They gave us the SW we needed, now give us the SW we DESERVE! 🙂

          Reply

          • Captain JJ the Isolated

            March 30, 2016 at 13:21

            Hear hear!

        • Admiral Chief in New York

          March 30, 2016 at 14:28

          *franchise

          Reply

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