Star Wars Creator George Lucas Was Opposed To Bringing Maul Back To Life — Until He Wasn't [Exclusive]
"Star Wars" has some of the coolest villains in blockbuster cinema, characters whose mere silhouettes instantly evoke strong emotions and memories. From Darth Vader's imposing armor to the Emperor's deathly force lightning, and from Jango Fett's jet pack to General Grievous' frightening four lightsabers, no two villains are the same.
Then there's Darth Maul, a character that engraved himself in the minds of fans from the moment he stepped onto the screen in 1999's "The Phantom Menace." A red, horned devil who not only moved faster and with more style than any "Star Wars" villain before him, Darth Maul brought about the concept of a dual-bladed lightsaber. (Grievous wouldn't show up until six years later.) On top of all that, Maul managed to fight two Jedi at the same time and kill one of them.
Even his death was as spectacular as the franchise had ever got. Anyone can get thrown down a shaft like Emperor Palpatine, but only Maul can get thrown down a shaft after being literally sliced in half. Alas, we lost Maul too soon and left many "Star Wars" fans incredibly sad. It meant he couldn't return to fight Obi-Wan Kenobi. That is, of course, until he did just that, in animated form.
The return of the king
I believe "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" is one of the best things to happen to "Star Wars." Premiering in 2008, the seven-season-long series revitalized the franchise following the mixed reception to the prequel trilogy. In fact, it made the prequels better by deepening the characters, making Anakin Skywalker a truly tragic figure, turning the clone troopers into actual people, and expanding the lore and mythology of "Star Wars" in exciting ways.
While the show was full of surprises — including the fact that it gave Anakin a Padawan — nothing compares to the time "The Clone Wars" brought back the menacing Darth Maul and turned him into an almost tragic figure.
A big development like that must have come after lots of planning, right? Well, not exactly. During a recent interview with /Film, Henry Gilroy, who helped develop "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," talked about how George Lucas had spent years saying he'd never bring Maul back. And to ensure no one else could do it too, Lucas decided to have him sliced in half when he was killed.
And then, one day, Lucas just changed his mind. (Not that he's never done that before — Lucas was opposed to Wookiee Jedi, but reversed his decision years later. He pulled a similar heel turn with his involvement in "The Clone Wars.") The story goes, Lucas went up to supervising director Dave Filoni and told him to figure out how to bring back Maul. While Filoni and his team worked on how Maul would come back into the fold and become a threat to the Jedi again, Gilroy was charged with explaining how Maul survived being cut in half and thrown down a shaft.
Fueled by hate
At the time this happened, Henry Gilroy had already left Lucasfilm, but that didn't stop Dave Filoni from giving him an impossible task of his own. "[Filoni] is like, 'Yeah, so yeah, George [Lucas] wants to bring back [Darth] Maul.' I'm like, 'I knew he was going to do that. I knew it. I knew it.' Because, the reason why is, George likes to see the things that he created. And his ideas are awesome, so you can't argue with it," Gilroy told /Film.
Though he had the monumental task to explain Maul's survival, he was given only eight comic book pages. "[It] was like, 'We don't have time to do a full epic thing,'" Gilroy added. The result was 2012's "The Clone Wars: The Sith Hunters," which dives into how Maul's deep hatred literally kept him alive.
"There was this toxic waste he's kind of soaking in, and it cauterized his wounds because it's ... burning," Gilroy explained. "And then he gets put in a garbage compactor and taken to the garbage planet. And George liked it. He's like, 'Oh, that's good.' So I'm like, 'Oh, all right.'"
Maul would end up being an integral part of "The Clone Wars" — he became a crime lord, almost enacted revenge on Palpatine, and had an epic fight with Ahsoka Tano. He would then return for "Star Wars Rebels," where he met his definitive for-real-this-time end at the hands of his old nemesis, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Death may be impermanent in "Star Wars," but it's better than Maul somehow being turned into General Grievous.