Does Darth Maul have a big future ahead of him in the Star Wars movies?

Ok, there’s spoilers in here about Solo: A Star Wars Story. So, you know, you’ve been warned.

Ok, so at the end of Solo we see a cloaked figure appear and talk to Qi’ra and, as is the norm in Star Wars, we assumed it was The Emperor.

But it wasn’t.

Oh, no… it was Darth Maul and yes, it was played by Ray Park who played him so well in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and, in a nice nod to The Clone Wars and Rebels, he was voiced by Sam Witwer who voiced him in Rebels.

For those who don’t know – and we heard a few puzzled murmurs in both screenings we attended – Maul didn’t die after his fall and being severed in two in Episode One but rather he was resurrected and eventually given new legs and a new lease of life by Sith magic courtesy of The Witches of Dathomir and he went on to rule the Black Sun crime organisation –  we loved the metallic clank of his legs in the scene (listen closely).

Given that Solo takes place ten years prior to Star Wars: A New Hope, we now know that Maul was very active at this stage… although how crime syndicate Crimson Dawn fits in to the story is anyone’s guess.

But one thing is for sure, Maul is now alive and well in the cinematic Star Wars universe again.

Co-screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan, son of Lawrence, has revealed that it was his fandom of the animated shows that led to the character’s resurrection.

“I loved that they took him and went an interesting place with him in Rebels, and in Clone Wars, and just sort of to expand on the myth of that character, and the idea that he survived. Rebels set us in a timeframe where we were sort of in the clear, and they were allowed to sort of do what they wanted with the Shadow Collective, with the whole, you know, backstory that they were playing with, and his movement into crime that would leave us in a clear zone, so that, by the time this movie happened, it was gray where he was.

“It opened it up for us, and certainly I think there’s room to go back and forth with that character and know more, because he’s a rich, rich opportunity.”

Ron Howard himself said that at the beginning there was no clear idea of who the boss was, but it soon became clear it had to be the retired Sith lord: “I will say that was scripted and there was a lot of uncertainty as to who that character would be.  So it was sort of initially written in a rather generic way.  It just sort of said “Boss”.  And I thought when I came in, I assumed they knew who it was and they were just keeping it under wraps.  And they didn’t.  But Maul was listed as one of the candidates.  And I lobbied hard for that.  I thought that made a lot of sense to me.  I found that character to be really effective.  And I knew for a fact, without asking directly and giving anything away, my son Reed who just turned 31, who’s a dedicated Star Wars fan, he’s a golfer.  He’s not in the business.  Dedicated Star Wars fan.  I just whispered that possibility and he just thought that would be incredibly cool.  And so for that generation, I thought, well that was gonna be a pretty interesting idea.” 

While we don’t think we’ll see a Darth Maul movie anytime soon – although it could be great but his character was given so much in his animated adventures it may be unnecessary  – we do think the Solo movie set up connections to other future movies such as Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi; it would be very clever to have a really interesting story develop in the background of the standalone movies, wouldn’t it?

Oh, and while he doesn’t say anything about it, Ray Park himself seems clued in on the Obi-Wan movie, What does that mean? Who knows… but we’re betting Maul has another big part to play in the Star Wars universe.

And the last person I met for the weekend was Ray Park. Very nice guy! Had a chat with him about the character of Darth Maul and various Lucasfilm endeavors. I’m just gonna say he strongly implied that a Kenobi movie will happen so all the reports are PROBABLY legit. pic.twitter.com/XV7lgNXdWJ

— David Weiser (@weiser_david) May 26, 2018