Maul Places The Sith Lord In A Place We have By no means Seen Earlier than [Exclusive]

Maul has fairly presumably probably the most fascinating story out of any “Star Wars” facet character. As soon as a one-off villain with a cool look and superb preventing abilities who nonetheless died after a single combat, he is since develop into important to the franchise. It was “Star Wars” creator George Lucas himself who determined to carry Maul again to life after years of being against the concept, with the character returning within the “Clone Wars” cartoon collection. There, he turned one of many present’s most advanced and fascinating villains earlier than his story continued within the animated collection “Star Wars Rebels” and the movie “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”

Now, Maul has develop into the primary “Star Wars” villain to get his very personal animated present with “Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord.” It is an important present that captures the uncooked anger of a betrayed Maul, even incorporating actor Sam Witwer’s personal screams into the sound design for Maul’s lightsaber swings. And although we in the end know the place this collection goes, it is a testomony to “Maul — Shadow Lord” that it manages to be stuffed with surprises involving its namesake.

Arguably the most important shock is available in Season 1, Episodes 7 and eight, throughout a confrontation between Maul and a pair of Inquisitors. Their ensuing lightsaber duel is not only visually gorgeous, but it surely additionally exhibits us one thing we have by no means seen earlier than: Maul in concern and ache. When interviewed previous to the present’s premiere, Witwer informed /Movie that he was considering seeing Maul’s preventing abilities “with the understanding that this man is definitely wounded.”

“He cannot generate the form of placing energy that he used to,” Witwer defined. “So, he has to depend on finesse, he has to depend on the Pressure, he has to depend on lots of various things.”

We have seen Maul undergo bodily ache earlier than — particularly, when he obtained chopped in half in “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.” Right here, nevertheless, “Maul — Shadow Lord” focuses on the lingering toll that this harm has taken on him and the way it hinders his skills. Certainly, all through the present’s first season, Maul complains about his robotic legs, limps, and even has his henchmen repair his limbs. As supervising director Brad Rau defined to /Movie, the collection’ creatives approached this notion as a recurring theme within the story.

“What occurs if his leg is injured? He would not get surgical procedure, he will get mechanical restore. So, we wished to slowly present a few of these bizarre vulnerabilities head on within the present,” Rau famous. This involves a head throughout Maul’s aforementioned battle with some Inquisitors, which he loses, large time. “His leg is extraordinarily badly wounded, and the concern on his face, we wished it to be real and actual, like this isn’t going the best way he wished,” Rau added.

It is an unprecedented second of vulnerability for Maul. What’s extra, this franchise would not actually do weak villains normally (except it is whiny Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren), so attending to see this onetime Sith Lord be really humiliated is sort of refreshing and interesting. There’s even a mixture of anger and concern in Sam Witwer’s efficiency, with Maul realizing he might very effectively die right here after having already misplaced the whole lot.

After all, we all know Maul’s story will ultimately proceed in “Solo.” Nonetheless, it is nice to see the “Star Wars” franchise play with our expectations and discover a option to ship shocking character moments, even in a prequel challenge.

“Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord” is presently streaming on Disney+.