George Lucas Planned DARTH MAUL As Star Wars Sequels Villain

Back before he sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, and back when he was developing his own plans for a Star Wars sequel trilogy, George Lucas planned on making Darth Maul a key villain of the Star Wars sequels, a new revelation that's come courtesy of Paul Duncan's The Star Wars Archives. 1999-2005 (via ScreenRant).

Duncan's tome provides a whole new level of insight into the creation and development of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, but fans have paid particular attention to the filmmaker's comments on his planned sequels.

As the book reveals, Lucas originally intended Darth Maul - the principal antagonist of Episode I: The Phantom Menace - to play an important role in Episode VII onwards, with the former Sith Apprentice even going so far as to develop a criminal empire that would rival the New Republic for control of the galaxy.

If all that sounds familiar, well it's because it probably should. Those fans who've watched The Clone Wars, Rebels and Solo: A Star Wars Story will be aware that Maul did indeed build his own criminal empire, first by taking control of the Mandalorian group Death Watch and then by fashioning his own organisation, Crimson Dawn, in the gap between Episodes III and IV. We can't possibly know how it may have played out in that post-Episode VI timeline, but it's good to know Lucas' blueprint for the sequels still went on to inform Maul's arc anyway.

Another exciting tidbit to have come from the new collection is that Darth Talon, a character from Star Wars: Legacy, would've been Maul's apprentice. Talon was once tapped to take on a role in Red Fly's cancelled Darth Maul game from 2011, but with the dissolution of the old Legends continuity in 2014, she's not been seen for a while.

Whatever the case, while Maul's arc did come to a satisfying close in Rebels (where he perished in a duel with longtime foe Obi-Wan Kenobi), it's still fascinating to consider what could've happened had Lucas proceeded with his original plans.

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