30 Greatest Star Wars Characters

16. Darth Maul

Lucasfilm

Frustratingly, Darth Maul is yet another Prequel Trilogy character who was utterly wasted while on camera, only getting the attention he warranted in Expanded Universe stories released after The Phantom Menace.

The first Star Wars prequel was a lot of things, but it didn't disappoint in the lightsaber department. Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Maul completely galvanised the way audiences considered lightsaber duelling and though there is a lot more to the villain than his proficiency with a lightsaber, Maul's double-bladed weapon is among the most iconic in the franchise, and perhaps the most inventive lightsaber created.

However, what many fans may not realise is that the character's story didn't end after Obi-Wan sliced him in half. He survived, and went on to foster a massive rivalry with Kenobi in the Clone Wars cartoon, which he probably should've done in the films themselves.

In the ensuing years, Obi-Wan and Maul would engage in one of the most devastating battles in Star Wars history, resulting in the death of Kenobi's loved-one, the Duchess Satine, before finally concluding in his death with one final duel on Tatooine. It was an amazing end for a brilliant character, and one well worth investing in outside of the films.

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WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.