Darth Maul (Ray Park) in The Phantom Menace.
Photo: Lucasfilm. All rights reserved.
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Star Wars fans must be strong now: Sith Lord Darth Maul is unlikely to be featured in the new Obi-Wan Kenobi series.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the villain was initially planned to appear in the series. After a creative revision, the scenes were then completely deleted and replaced by scenes with Darth Vader.
The original cast member, Ray Park, who played Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace and Solo: A Star Wars Story, is said to have been actively preparing for the role. However, all plans are said to have changed when screenwriter Hosseini Amini and director Deborah Chow presented their scripts for the series to Lucasfilm.
Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau are said to have raised concerns about the storyline, which covers similar areas to The Mandolorian, as Obi-Wan should focus on the titular character emerging from hiding to protect young Luke Skywalker . During this stage of development, Maul would be one of the main villains the two hunted down, with Vader not appearing at all.
These concerns were probably enough for Lucasfilm boss Kathleen Kennedy to slow down the planning. So also the actor for the role of Luke Skywalker was changed; the role is now being filled by newcomer Grant Frey.
However, other sources also report that Darth Maul was not intended to return from the start.
The first episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi is slated to release on May 25th on Disney+. Further episodes will then appear on a weekly basis. The series is set between the events of the Star Wars films Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, in which Luke Skywalker is just a boy and his father Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) is terrorizing the galaxy.
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