An Iconic Star Wars Villain Is Getting A Disney+ Series
A fan-favorite Star Wars villain is reportedly getting a series.
This article is more than 2 years old
Over the years, the Star Wars villain has become one of the most celebrated facets of the fantasy franchise. From Darth Vader in George Lucas’s original trilogy to Darth Sidious (aka Chancellor Palpatine) in the Star Wars prequels, the franchise’s bad guys are some of the most popular evil-doers in pop culture.
Darth Maul is another iconic Star Wars villain who quickly became a fan-favorite despite his limited screen-time. Ever since his cameo appearance at the end of Solo: A Star Wars Story fans have been eager to see him in live-action once more. The good news is that LucasFilm and Disney+ are rumored to be working on a live-action series featuring Maul, with a story that picks up during the same time frame as the Solo movie.
Darth Maul made his Star Wars villain debut in 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace as a powerful Zabrak warrior. He was also the first apprentice Darth Sidious ever had. Although he seemed to be killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of the film, he returned in the 2008’s animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and 2014’s Star Wars Rebels.
Throughout his Star Wars appearances, Maul has been portrayed as a villain and a disgraced Sith Lord who renounced his “Darth” title after it became apparent that Sidious never cared about him. A powerful crime lord in his own right, Maul is also Obi-Wan’s relentless archenemy.
It’s worth noting that nothing about this Star Wars villain series has been made official just yet as Disney is still in the early stages of planning the project. However, it has been reported that if the series does get the green light, Ray Park may not be returning to the role. While fans might be a little disappointed at the news, it looks like the studio has valid reasons for dropping the actor and martial artist.
Park, who reprised his Star Wars villain role from The Phantom Menace for his cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story found himself in hot water last year after allegedly sharing a sexually explicit video of himself and a mystery woman on Instagram. There are lots of theories about who, what, when, and why of it all but as reported by LRM Online, LucasFilm and Disney were forced to respond appropriately. Given the seriousness of the now-removed video, the studios have supposedly decided to move forward with more Darth Maul stories without Park.
Realistically, the move won’t affect the Star Wars villain on screen, as the prosthetics used to create Darth Maul are all-consuming making it easy for another actor to take on the role. Additionally, the incident has no impact on Sam Witwer who has been voicing the iconic Sith since the prequel movie. He has also voiced the character on The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. So it might not be a bad idea to give him a shot at a live-action role too.
While we wait for the studio to mull things over there are a few confirmed Star Wars series’ fans can look forward to. The Book of Boba Fett is set to premiere in December 2021. Obi-Wan Kenobi is scheduled for release in 2022. And production will begin on the third season of The Mandalorian in early 2022.
