Omit Darth Sidious From Episode I
The main reason Darth Maul had such a limited role in his one movie appearance was that he was always playing second fiddle to his Master. Darth Sidious was the true villain of the film, stealing Mauls limelight. And when you think about it, directly involving himself with his schemes by way of a black hood was a lot more risky than having an Apprentice to do everything for him. Id love to see some Robot Chicken-style sketch with Palpatines entourage wondering why he has to go for such long toilet breaks! So, for the purposes of this fantasy, we remove all the Darth Sidious hologram scenes, and give all his dialogue and actions to Darth Maul. Maybe keep the one scene where theyre together in the flesh, just to make it clear that there is another Sith, but dont mention Sidious or have any other character know of him until Episode II. Not only does this make the revelation of Darth Sidiouss existence a little more surprising and interesting, but also it makes Darth Maul the clear central antagonist of the first film. He is the one who invades Naboo, tries to kill the Jedi and the Queen, hunts them down, leads the army in the final battle, kills Qui-gon and is finally killed by Obi-wan. The main villain dies, the battle is won and, like Episode IV, Episode I now works as a standalone film. And there we have it. I hope I have eased the pain of Darth Mauls passing a little. But do comment below if youve thought of something I couldnt. May the Force be with you, always