In March 2022, the internet was set alight by news that Darth Maul, the iconic horned villain in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, was cut from Disney Plus‘s upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series. However, in a recent interview with Total Film, the director of the sci-fi series Deborah Chow, revealed that this wasn’t the case. In fact, Darth Maul couldn’t have been cut from Obi-Wan Kenobi because he was never in it in the first place.
The upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series is set between the events of Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith, and Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope. It will see Ewan McGregor reprise his role as the Jedi master along with Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker (aka Darth Vader). However, according to The Hollywood Reporter‘s sources, another prequel film figure was set to be the show’s main antagonist before Vader replaced him: Darth Maul.
Rumours that Darth Maul was in the series and then later cut have been swirling around the fandom since, and now we finally have some clarity on the matter. “As long as I’ve been involved, we’ve never had Darth Maul in any of it,” Chow explained, setting the record straight. “Dave [Filoni] did a beautiful job of telling that story already.”
David Filoni concluded the Star Wars character‘s story in his animated series, Star Wars Rebels, which saw Maul defeated by the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi once again. Chow also went on to describe why Vader was ultimately chosen as the series’ antagonist instead of Maul.
“With a lot of the legacy aspects, the decision to bring Vader into it was not made lightly. We’re 10 years after Revenge Of The Sith,” she said. “Where is Obi-Wan’s starting place? What has been important to him in his life? Anakin and Vader are a huge and very profound part of his life. We ended up feeling that he made sense in telling this story. And Vader casts such a dark shadow in this, that to have Maul as well, it might be a little bit much.”
The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi will stream exclusively on Disney Plus on Friday, May 27. Episodes will then be released weekly every Wednesday. For more Star Wars content, here is our guide on The Mandalorian season 3.