Darth Maul is one of the most popular Star Wars characters among fans. Here is why the Sith Lord deserves his own solo film.
Disney has been pushing out Star Wars content since 2012. Admittedly, the sequel trilogy garnered plenty of animosity from the fan base. However, there have been some bright spots to Disney’s acquisition of the saga with Rogue One and The Mandalorian series. The sad part is Disney has yet to shine a spotlight on a certain underdeveloped character that has captured and tantalized fans since 1999’s Star Wars: Episode I: Phantom Menace.
That certain character happens to be Darth Maul. He first graced cinemas back in the late ’90s with the first Star Wars prequel and electrified audiences with his red double-edged lightsaber. Despite only having a few lines and being “killed” before the first run of his film, fans have been asking for more of Maul and the only way to answer their hungry call is by giving them a solo film centering around the Sith Lord.
With so many spin-offs in the works for the space opera, it would make sense that Lucasfilm would begin development on a character that fans have been dying to see more of on the big screen, despite the fact that Disney has opted to ignore any spin-off films that would happen to take place before or during the time of the prequels.
Star Wars’ Most Interesting Character
As stated before, Maul has been acclaimed as probably one of the most interesting characters in the saga and has earned the respect of the fanbase with such little screen time. There is a plethora of lore when discussing the Sith Lord.
In The Phantom Menace, Maul was hired and taught by Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid) to help and become instrumental in the resurgence of the Sith, and is trained to capture Queen Amidala. He comes face to face with Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), and the three spar in an epic duel of fates, where Maul viciously kills Jinn.
The character was cut in half by Obi-Wan and fell down a large shaft. However, that was not the end of Maul’s journey. He survived being cut in half and ended up in a pile of scraps where his brother, Savage Opress, found him and with the help of the Nightsisters, gave Maul new life as he set upon a path of revenge against the Jedi.
Plenty of Potential
With a character that has a fanatical propensity to consistently survive the fray or a seemingly impossible endeavor in the canon, Maul having a solo film, has a slew of potential and could take the character in a few directions audiences had never seen before. The fact that this character was undercut was a let-down, and, despite The Clone Wars series bringing him back, it seems that, even still, his cinema presence was inconsequential and short-lived, even if fans may never see him in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, according to The Digital Fix.
When thinking about an origin story for the character, it’s best to build the character up from when he started out as nothing and was first introduced to the tempting ways of the Sith. The film could even explore more of Maul’s relationship with his family and could give the Nightsisters of Dathomir some more exposure in the Star Wars universe that was never truly captured in cinemas. Maul is a complicated character, whose potential seems innumerable, and his arc, if given the green light, could rival that of Luke and Anakin Skywalker.
Rousing Fans
What seems most important of all is the fact that fans want his story explored a lot more in the saga. Despite the space opera’s missteps with Solo, which fumbled tremendously at the box-office, this origin story could make up for it ten-fold because it is something that fans have been salivating over for many years. It may not be something as groundbreaking as a Darth Sidious or Plagueis solo film, but it certainly has the muster to attract plenty of eyeballs to its domain.
Since Maul has been one of the fan-favorite characters, it wouldn’t be a surprise if this was a smash hit at the box office. If giving fans what they want proves successful for movies like Spider-Man: No Way Home, Maul should find some common ground in financial fortune. The only thing that could conceivably hold it back from a billion-dollar box office credit would be COVID-19, possibly delaying film-goers to see the film, which may prompt them to wait until the film is released on Disney+ to enjoy it. Only time will tell if this project will ever see the light of day, with fans swarming in cinemas to see it on opening day.
