The Best Darth Maul Actor Loved Seeing Him Die
In The Phantom Menace, X-Men veteran Ray Park brought Darth Maul to life, and his mysterious villain quickly became the highlight of the entire Prequel Trilogy. However, as hardcore fans know, Park isn’t actually the best actor to bring this Sith warrior to life. That honor goes to Sam Witwer, the Darth Maul voice actor who, in the video below, explains why he loved his character’s death at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Rebels.
Sam Witwer And The Death Of Darth Maul
If you don’t have Sam Witwer’s nearly encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars, you may need a quick refresher…in short, the Clone Wars cartoon confirmed that Darth Maul had cheated death, and the character continued to plague our heroes in the Rebels spinoff. In one episode of Rebels, we get a rematch between Maul and a much older Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the fight ends almost immediately with Qui-Gon Jinn’s former pupil killing this Sith once and for all. Many fans complained that this fight was short and ultimately disappointing, but in this video from a fan convention, Witwer broke down why the fight was so perfect.
According to Sam Witwer, Darth Maul’s death came from the fact that Obi-Wan Kenobi embraced the maturity of age and effectively lured the Sith warrior into a trap. The voice actor pointed out that if you carefully watch Kenobi’s movements, he cycles through different lightsaber stances, effectively going from young Obi-Wan to older Obi-Wan. Witwer sees this cycling as the old man’s way of realizing he has changed as both warrior and Jedi Master, which is why he goes from holding his lightsaber like Ewan McGregor did to holding it like Alec Guinness did.
The final lightsaber stance the Jedi takes is that of his own master, Qui-Gon Jinn. As Sam Witwer notes, Darth Maul caused the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s old master, and when Kenobi takes the familiar stance, the Sith goes for a repeat performance. In short, he thinks that Obi-Wan is just copying what Qui-Gon did back in The Phantom Menace and tries to respond accordingly.
However, Kenobi has had nearly two decades to ponder what got his old master killed, and he perfectly counters Maul’s moves. His trickery is what caused this to be such a short fight, as Maul got so close that his foe could pull off a nearly instantaneous killing move. Beyond Kenobi’s deception and fancy moves, though, Sam Witwer believes that Darth Maul’s death was caused by the fact that he underestimated his opponent.
In the actor’s words, the Sith sees his foe as “a hopeless man hiding in a desert,” someone who is a “coward” and a “failed Jedi.” Witwer claims that only in his defeat does Maul realize that “this is a Jedi Master who is on active duty, and if he is this good, this must be the most important guard post in the galaxy.” He clocks that Kenobi is protecting the Chosen One, and thanks to his hatred of Palpatine, he has an interesting perspective on this famous Jedi prophecy: “he will avenge us.”
Other than Ray Park and George Lucas, few people have as much insight as Sam Witwer when it comes to Darth Maul’s life and death. His fascinating perspective on the character’s final duel may not be enough to quiet the fans who think the fight is too short, but it certainly gave us a new way of looking at one of our favorite Star Wars scenes. Between Witwer’s words and the relatively high quality of Ahsoka, one thing is clear: there’s never been a better time to rewatch Rebels and experience the best that a galaxy far, far away has to offer.
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