Solo: A Star Wars Story stunned audiences with a surprise cameo by Darth Maul - does this mean we'll be seeing more of him in future movies? While most people probably think Darth Maul died at the end of Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace, he's had a full life in recent non-movie material, making perfect sense of his Solo appearance.
After being billed as the next great Star Wars villain, the first movie character other than Darth Vader with the "Darth" moniker in his name, Maul was both a highlight and a disappointment, as his menacing character design and epic action choreography were the makings of a great villain, only for him to seemingly be killed off by Obi-Wan Kenobi - not to appear again in live-action until his Solo: A Star Wars Story cameo.
Related: How Darth Maul Became More Tragic Than Darth Vader
With such a spotty explanation for his sudden Solo appearance, it's understandable that viewers would immediately have questions, but the prospect of another Darth Maul live-action appearance is also an exciting idea. Unfortunately, it's not clear when or how this plot thread will be continued, but we have a few ideas.
- This Page: How Did Darth Maul Survive?
- Page 2: Darth Maul's Solo Cameo Explained
- Page 3: Will We See Darth Maul in Live-Action Again?
How Did Darth Maul Survive?
Unbeknownst to most people that don't follow Star Wars stories outside of the movies, Darth Maul didn't die after Obi-Wan Kenobi cut him in half. He dug deep into his rage and wrapped himself in the dark side of the Force to preserve his life. He made onto a garbage hauler that deposited him on a junkyard planet known as Lothor Minor.
He'd live there for a number of years, slowly losing his mind, obsessing over his final battle and Kenobi until he was recovered by his brother, Savage Opress, and given new robot legs. At this point, the Clone Wars were in full swing, and he saw Palpatine had moved on without him. He had been groomed from an early age to command the armies of the Emperor's uprising, but that role instead had gone to Count Dooku. Maul felt like his grand destiny had been stolen from him and vowed revenge.
Related: Lord & Miller's Influence On Solo: A Star Wars Story Was Bigger Than You Realized
Instead of leading Sidious' armies, Maul infiltrated a Mandalorian mercenary group, Death Watch, and used them to slowly gain control over all the major crime organizations and cartels, rallying the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Clans, and Black Sun under his control. He uses this force, now the 3rd largest military force in the galaxy after the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, to invade and take over Mandalore.
Immediately before the events of Revenge of the Sith, possibly even overlapping with the timeline of the movie, a republic assault, led by Ahsoka Tano, was able to oust Maul and save Mandalore. After this, Maul disappears from canon for years, and for a long time, fans didn't know what he was up to until he showed up in Star Wars Rebels, which takes place just a couple years before the events of A New Hope. But now, thanks to Solo: A Star Wars Story, we know what he was up to during that time.
Page 2 of 3: Maul's Solo: A Star Wars Story Cameo Explained
Maul's Solo: A Star Wars Story Cameo Explained
Maul (having long ago abandoned the "Darth" moniker) may not have made many public appearances since his disappearance at the end of the Clone Wars, but according to the surprise appearance at the end of Solo, he was still pulling plenty of strings from the shadows as the head of his criminal organization, Crimson Dawn, likely named after the blood red sun of his home planet and base of operations, Dathomir.
While many audience members may have been confused about why Maul was alive, much less running a criminal empire in this era of Star Wars, it all makes complete sense. The last thing we knew about Maul in canon was that he was the head of a massive criminal alliance, and Crimson Dawn includes a number of the groups Maul previously controlled, such as the Pyke Syndicate, so, while it may have been a shocking reveal, especially for anyone that didn't know he was alive all this time, he's exactly where he's supposed to be at the head of one of the galaxy's biggest criminal empires. Revealing that Maul is the head of the Crimson Dawn is about as logical as it would have been to reveal Grand Admiral Thrawn as the leader of the Imperials chasing the Falcon.
Of course, it's arguable as to whether or not that's something that needs to be revealed at all, or revealed in that fashion, as it was obviously jarring to a number of people that don't read the books and comics or watch the animated shows, which is most people, but there's also a certain cool factor in the reveal, but it's hard to deny that many of the fans that do follow all the extra stuff got a thrill out of the reveal.
We Already Know How Maul's Story Ends
One of the more interesting parts about Maul's live-action return is that we already know where this is going. Maul may actually be the Star Wars movie character with the largest percentage of his story appearing in non-movie material. There's over a decade of missing story between the end of The Clone Wars animated series and his appearance in Star Wars Rebels, where he ultimately dies in a duel against Obi-Wan Kenobi. Despite the conclusive ending, there's still a lot of story to tell before his Rebels appearance, leaving a couple major plot points to be resolved.
First, he's being hunted by the Empire. Palpatine was already after him at the end of The Clone Wars, and the Emperor's Force-wielding agents, the Inquisitors, clearly have a history with him in Star Wars Rebels, so presumably, that's the case throughout the gap time as well. In fact, Solo contained a major easter egg to confirm this fact - Maul's lightsaber. The blade Maul ignites in the movie is a modified Inquisitor hilt (the same one he uses in Rebels), meaning it's likely that Maul didn't only have an encounter with at least one Inquisitor, but probably also defeated it to get the lightsaber.
Related: Why The Kenobi Movie SHOULDN'T Feature Maul
Second, at some point, he loses his criminal empire. He's the head of one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy at the end of The Clone Wars, and he's still pulling those strings in Solo, but when he shows up a few years later in Rebels, he's all on his own, with only a few artifacts and resources to show of his once-grand organization. This is likely the biggest story left to tell in Maul's history. Was he defeated by a mutiny within Crimson Dawn? Did Darth Vader lead the Empire in an effort to squash Crimson Dawn, possibly coming face-to-face with Maul in an epic duel? There's a number of options, all of which make for enticing stories.
With how many popular criminals, bounty hunters, and other undesireables there are in the Star Wars universe, it would certainly be a cool concept to see a team of bounty hunters and mercenaries go against the former Sith Lord to gain control of his organization, but, at the same time, the notion of two of Darth Sidious' apprentices going head to head has also always been an exciting proposition. Fortunately, those two concepts aren't necessarily mutually exclusive, as Vader regularly works with bounty hunters and mercenaries, so Maul could find himself facing off against a collection of criminals, Imperials, and the Dark Lord of the Sith in his epic fall from power.
Page 3 of 3: What's Darth Maul's Movie Future?
Will We See Darth Maul in Live-Action Again?
The brief appearance at the end of Solo raises a lot of obvious questions, most specifically surrounding Maul's next appearance. It's one thing bring Maul back in comics and cartoons, but giving him a major live-action reveal creates an expectation of a bigger presence in future movies. Surely, if Lucasfilm wasn't interested in a live-action Maul, then they could have written the story in a way that doesn't include him, or made another criminal organization the threat in Solo.
The thing is, there's no clear place in the current plan to include him in someone else's story. The most rumored spin-off movies are a Kenobi solo movie and a Boba Fett movie. While his inclusion in Solo was certainly impossible to predict, there's is room in both of those to tell a Darth Maul story, however unlikely. In the case of Kenobi, that story has already been told in Star Wars Rebels. That means his next possible appearance is most likely in a movie that has yet to even be rumored. It's possible Lucasfilm was only reviving him to leave the possibility open down the road, but it's hard to imagine there weren't at least discussions of what to do with him next.
Related: The Clone Wars Revival Can Pay Off Maul's Solo Cameo
He's expected to show up in animation to round out The Clone Wars story, likely with the Seige of Mandalore, meaning the ideas outlined above are the most fertile territory for live-action, leaving only one question: would Lucasfilm and Disney actually make a movie centered on a villain? On one hand, it doesn't seem like that far-fetched of a concept, especially for a character as popular as Darth Maul, but at the same time, a Maul-centric story would inherently be a lot darker than Disney seems to be looking to go with its live-action movies. While the spin-offs are still a gray area in the Star Wars franchise in terms of tone and content, going that dark would be a totally uncharted territory.
Then, of course, there's the issue of Solo: A Star Wars Story's poor performance at the box office, putting even more question marks on Lucasfilm's future plans for any spin-offs, especially ones relating to the events of Solo. The movie will ultimately still be profitable, so it's not outside the realm of possibility, but if Lucasfilm had any grand plans for Maul during Solo's production, the deal has probably already been altered.
Ultimately, it would be great to see Maul finally have his glory day in live-action, and the cameo in Solo shows that day is certainly a possibility and shows a desire or willingness on Lucasfilm's part to make it happen. The reasonable thing to expect would be for the rest of Maul's story to be told in books, comics, or animation, but at the same time, it's 2018 and we're actually talking about the real potential of additional Maul appearances, so anything's possible.
MORE: Why Maul's Solo: A Star Wars Story Cameo Was Perfect
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