How Darth Maul Almost Had A Major Star Wars Comeback In The Prequel Trilogy
George Lucas was almost talked into bringing back Darth Maul as the true identity of General Grievous.
Darth Maul is one of the most iconic characters from the prequel trilogy, and George Lucas almost brought him back as General Grievous. The lightsaber-wielding droid commander eventually ended up being his own character, but Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels writer Henry Gilroy revealed this nearly wasn’t the case. Speaking to /Film, Gilroy said “George was considering that Grievous was Maul behind the armor plate,” adding, “I thought it was interesting that the concept guys almost talked George into that.”
General Grievous became an iconic character in his own right and was frequently used in the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series. Of course, Darth Maul would eventually be brought back as well in the same series, albeit with a very different kind of robot body. Maul was found on a trash planet, where he went insane and fashioned a robotic spider-like body to replace his lower half.
Darth Maul would eventually play a major role in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, regaining his sanity and teaming up with his kin Savage Oppress to seize the Mandalorian home planet of Mandalore. After overthrowing Mandalore, Maul would strengthen his position by expanding his empire with a crime syndicate.
Darth Maul was even revealed to be pulling the strings of the crime syndicate in Solo: A Star Wars Story. While it seemed like this might be setting Maul up to have more live-action appearances, the rest of his story was actually told in Star Wars Rebels. In Star Wars: The Clone Wars Palpatine showed up to kill Savage Oppress and capture Maul.
Darth Maul ended up escaping in Star Wars Rebels and continuing his rule of Mandalore. He would eventually be overthrown, leading him to try and hunt down Obi-Wan Kenobi to exact his revenge. Maul tracked Kenobi down to Tatooine where they dueled one final time.
Since General Grievous died at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, we might not have seen this story play out. Darth Maul’s arc in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels is highly regarded amongst fans, so it’s a good thing plans worked out the way they did. While it’s always possible that we could see Maul again in a pre-Rebels timeline project, it’s good to know that his story got a satisfying end.
Darth Maul has yet to appear in any live-action Star Wars projects since his brief appearance in Solo: A Star Wars Story. The Disney+ Star Wars efforts are going as strong as ever, with Andor recently wrapping up, Star Wars: The Bad Batch currently airing new episodes, and the third season of The Mandalorian on the way. With the third season of The Mandalorian focusing heavily on the planet of Mandalore, it wouldn’t be surprising if there were some references made to Maul.
If you want to see all of Darth Maul’s storyline play out, you can stream all of the animated Star Wars series on Disney+. Make sure to watch Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace first to get the whole story. You can check out The Mandalorian Season 3 on March 1.
