The Star Wars licence has experienced a precarious existence since Disney's acquisition of LucasFilm in 2012, and none know that better than the folks who worked with and for LucasArts in the run up to its tragic demise in the summer of 2013. One such group of people were the developers at Red Fly studios, a little-known company most famous for making the following year's TMNT: Out of the Shadows, a small if not respectable adaptation of the turtles licence in the form of a downloadable title. Prior to Red Fly becoming embroiled with Activision and the heroes in a half shell however, the group were in talks with LucasArts to create a game centred around one of Star Wars' most notable and infamous antagonists - Darth Maul. It would become one of the many projects to fall victim to LucasArts' tumultuous final years, but Red Fly's title was set to focus on Maul's formative years prior to the events of the Phantom Menace, depicting his rise to prominence as The Emperor's first apprentice and his eventual seduction to the dark side of the force. Better still - the action adventure game was to be heavily inspired by Rocksteady's Arkham franchise - amazing, right? Its cancellation came as a great disappointment to the legions of Maul fans simply begging for more stories featuring the character, especially after he was given such an excellent story arc in the concluding seasons of the much-loved Clone Wars series. Great news then, that Red Fly have just announced that they're going to be demoing the project to the powers that be over at EA, the most desirable outcome being a full title-resurrection and a strong current-gen single-player experience for fans to look forward to in the coming years - especially for those who don't really care for any of this multiplayer-only malarkey. So, lets follow the Han Solo mantra of doing away with the odds altogether and envision just how fantastic a Darth Maul game could be, especially with the Arkham series to draw inspiration from. Here's hoping it's an opportunity EA don't pass up on too hastily.
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.
