Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord Features A Clever Lightsaber Easter Egg You Definitely Missed

Maul is back! The former Sith lord, otherwise known as Darth Maul, has finally gotten a solo project in the shape of the Disney+ animated series "Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord," and it's been a long time coming. The character has developed a storied history within the "Star Wars" franchise since making his debut (and being part of one of the best lightsaber duels of all time) in "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace." Now, even Maul's actual lightsaber has more character than ever.

In "Step Into the Shadows," a featurette released in honor of the premiere of "Maul — Shadow Lord" (see the video below), it's revealed that Sam Witwer, who has been voicing Maul since "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," got to inject some of his performance into the Force user's lightsaber. "You actually hear the sound of Sam screaming built into the saber," as David W. Collins, the show's supervising sound editor and designer, explains in the video. We then get an example of the actor screaming, followed by Maul using his lightsaber, and it becomes easy to hear how the sound was blended in. Obviously, this would be easy to miss at first (if not impossible to make out on your own), but once it's been laid out, it's a pretty fascinating little Easter egg.

In terms of Maul's entire timeline, "Maul — Shadow Lord" takes place after the events of "The Clone Wars" but before those of "Star Wars Rebels," filling in some crucial gaps between the two animated series. Moreover, it shows us how Maul became one of the heads of the "Star Wars" universe's criminal underworld via the Shadow Collective and even sees him taking on a new apprentice, adding all the more depth to his already rich backstory.

"The way that this show looks, that's the world that Maul sees. Dangerous, a little bit more rough around the edges. You know? Anger, fear, aggression," as Sam Witwer explains in said featurette. "This is some of the most exciting stuff I've ever done," he adds.

The featurette also reveals that, even though motion capture wasn't used for "Maul — Shadow Lord," its creatives still asked Witwer to record footage of him performing Maul physically to assist with the series' animated process. This only further goes to show just how much the actor has come to embody ever since Ray Park originated the role in "The Phantom Menace." Hence, literally adding his voice to Maul's lightsabers seems all the more fitting.

For those not aware, Park was originally cast as Maul thanks to his role in a terrible video game film, namely "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation." And while he played the character physically in "The Phantom Menace," it was Peter Serafinowicz who voiced him in the movie's final cut. However, it was Witwer who voiced Maul upon his return in "The Clone Wars." Ever since then, he's become synonymous with the Zabrak warrior, so much so that he wound up replacing Serafinowicz as Maul's voice actor in "Solo: A Star Wars Story" (with Park once again portraying the character physically in the film).

So far, folks, in general, seem to be onboard with "Maul — Shadow Lord," as it promises to potentially answer some big questions about Maul himself (in addition to giving him the spotlight). That being the case, it appears this show will only further cement Witwer as the definitive Maul actor, his screaming lightsaber and all.

"Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord" is streaming now on Disney+.