Star Wars: Was General Grievous Originally Conceived As The Return Of Darth Maul?

GenMaul Okay then Star Wars fans. I have a question for you. You know General Grievous, the four armed spidery cyborg who is made of up what seems to be a heart and a brain housed within a robotic body? Yeah, that's right, the bad guy who collects lightsabers and coughs a whole lot. Right, here's the question: Do you think it's a possibility that in early drafts of Revenge of the Sith and possibly even early in the pre-production phase, that he may have been conceived as Darth Maul resurrected? I know, I know that€™s crazy talk - but stick with me. Since first being introduced to General Grievous and hearing stories of his construction on Geonosis and his expanded universe origins before that, I've loved the cowardly coughing leader of the droid army but something about him felt lacking. He€™s really only there to keep Obi-Wan Kenobi occupied while Palpatine turns Anakin Skywalker to the dark side but taking a step back from what we know from the final films, is there more to Grievous€™s creation for the Star Wars Saga? Now, I know he€™s NOT Darth Maul. Of course I know it€™s not some deeply hidden secret and that General Grievous is indeed his own thing in the Star Wars Saga now, but as a bit of a lark, stick with me and look over the evidence that may indicate that General Grievous may very well have originally been intended to be the return of Darth Maul.

Darth Maul€™s Popularity

GenMaul3 Phantom Menace was huge. From day one it was always going to be. We all got excited about seeing a young Anakin, a young Obi-Wan, a younger Yoda and the early days of the droids. We got to see lightsabers again, starships, new worlds and Luke and Leia€™s Mum. We got to return to the galaxy far far away. We were good to go on just those basics and then early in the build up Lucasfilm released images of this new guy that was immediately striking. Darth Maul. We had our new Star Wars villain and he was awesome looking. Then came the first trailer and the double lightsaber moment that blew everyone's minds and frankly we all fell in love. George Lucas has his haters but there€™s no denying the man€™s ability to create cool characters that immediately become part of the fabric of our film loving hearts and Darth Maul was a total triumph. In every scene Maul is presented in a series of badass introductions. He€™s always entering the scene, either from a hologram or walking out of the Sith Infiltrator. In his limited screen time, he totally shines. From his bold use of a speederbike, to his Duel of Fates reveal to the Jedi on Naboo. Maul owned us all in 1999 and for the good of the story, George Lucas killed him off (well at least cut him in half €“ later the Clone Wars would bring him back in all new badass ways!). Darth Maul was dead but in just one movie he had become one of the most loved characters in the Star Wars Saga. Lucas potentially had another Boba Fett on his hands and once again he'd killed off a character in his prime - but things were different this time...
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