10 Things You Didn't Know About Darth Maul

5. He Wasn't Originally Sliced In Half

While Darth Maul's death seems pretty definitive in the final cut of the movie, as he is sliced in half and falls down a long chute, the original plan was for Maul to simply fall down the chute in one piece.

Speaking to Empire shortly after the movie's release, George Lucas said of the original death scene, "I looked at it and thought this isn't going to work because, if people like him enough, they are going to want him to come back and they're going to assume somehow he gets out of it. So I had to cut him in half to say this guy's gone, he's history, he ain't coming back. I'll come up with another apprentice."

The original death scene was reportedly screened to test audiences shortly before the movie's release and ultimately retained as an alternate take in case the MPAA balked at the more brutal final take.

The fact that Maul's fate was more open-ended originally is somewhat ironic when you consider what happened next...