Full Series Darth Maul in Star Wars Rebels

Filoni suggested repeatedly that it was Maul's survival that put the idea in Palpatine's head that he should not give up on apprentices right away, which is why he ran off to save Vader, whereas with Maul he took it for granted that he was dead and moved on.

To me that implies that he was impressed with Maul. If Maul were just broken and useless, then I wouldn't expect Palpatine to so desperately try to keep Vader alive after being similarly crippled.

In contrast however, Lucas is the one that puts forth the idea that Palpatine was disappointed with Vader after being injured and that Vader was never able to reach his full potential. So what Lucas had said and the idea that Filoni has pushed for don't really jive up IMO. Maul survives his injuries and impresses Palpatine to the point that he refuses to let Vader die, but then Vader is a disappointment.

Palpatine is apparently disappointed with Dooku's age and power, which draws him to Anakin who is "far younger and more powerful." But during TCW it is not 100% certain that Anakin will turn yet, so he may not want to put all of his eggs in one basket.

IMO there are two likely "uses" that Palpatine could have for Maul

-keep Maul around and give him the chance to kill Dooku and take his place as a Sith once more
-use Maul as a science experiment to explore how he survived and perhaps use some of that knowledge in the effort to keep Anakin alive
-use Maul as a pawn to draw out Talzin
-allow him to continue antagonizing Obi-Wan in an effort to kill him and isolating Anakin by killing his mentor

Regardless, I don't see a shining future for Maul. If he's a pawn or test subject, there's nothing glamorous about that, and if he was being set up to potentially replace Dooku, well we know that doesn't happen. As for killing Obi-Wan, that seems like a non-issue after ROTS.

Palpatine is said to be less forgiving than Vader, who himself is very ruthless. I would think that Maul turning himself into a rival and being bold enough to try and usurp Palpatine would not go over well. IMO using Maul merely as a test subject or to draw out Talzin make the most sense to me. Giving him another shot at being a Sith or giving him the autonomy to hunt down Obi-Wan seem a little too forgiving and leave Maul as too much of a liability IMO.

 

Maul gets sent on a mission by Palps, but his ship gets jumped by a hostile force. During his frantic escape, the ship is damaged, causing the control computer to go haywire. The relativistic shielding shuts down, while the ion engines jam into the full ahead position. The ship accelerates to .999C with its relativistic shield offline. In the space of what appears from Maul's perspective to be only an hour or so, he is in fact dilated decades into the future. By the time he gets the ship slowed down out of the relativistic regimen, he is in the post-YV war era of Episode VII. Thus he becomes the big bad of the next movie.

 

Maul needs to be nowhere near Episode VII. The return of a villain that hardly said or did anything in TPM, and who most of the millions of people that go see Episode VII aren't going to know was still alive. And after Into Darkness - which Abrams also directed...

Spoiler: Into Darkness spoiler

In which Khan, a warlord who has been in cryosleep for over 100 years, goes on a one-man war against the Federation upon being awoken... Such a return of Maul would be horrible and look entirely unoriginal

Not to mention I highly doubt Lucas wrote Maul into his treatments, since Filoni has confirmed that Lucas was pretty adamant that anyone not in ROTS should be killed off in TCW. I get the strong impression that had TCW not been cancelled, that it would have dealt with Maul's fate, and that he would have been killed.

But now Lucas is no longer involved in the TV series, but Filoni is, making a loophole by which Filoni could address some of the fates of characters from TCW in Rebels, such as Maul, Rex, Ahsoka, etc. However, Lucas still had a hand in writing the outlines for the sequel trilogy, so I have no doubt that Maul will be absent.

 

In all fairness, Old Wounds was designed as a short, and primarily as an action piece with limited dialogue. And yes, there's some manner of tension lost in the fact that we know very well that Obi-Wan can't actually die.

But to say that there's no depth or character moments is being very unfair to the comic. For one, let's look at Maul. Old Wounds Maul is the reason we have TCW Maul at all. It was Old Wounds that originally put forward the idea that Maul could survive his bi-section through the pure hatred of the one who felled him, and that death itself would be cowed by the singular drive for vengeance. Maul, who had always previously been depicted as the utterly loyal and devoted servant of Palpatine, essentially said to hell with his master, to hell with the galaxy, to hell with everything but Obi-Wan and the moment where he would stand over the Jedi's lifeless body. This may seem rather old hat now that TCW has stolen Old Wounds' thunder, but never forget that the comic added that new dynamic to Maul's character first.

Secondly, how about Obi-Wan? Though it is indeed a duel between two people we've already seen fight, neither one is the person they used to be. Obi-Wan is decades older, decades wiser, and has been through his own shades of hell in the intervening years since Naboo. And instead of barely escaping with his life, Obi-Wan's challenge isn't winning, but what to do once he's one. Because he's beaten Maul, but not killed him. What does he do? And we see a flash of Obi-Wan's thoughts, as he thinks back to what Maul's done, what the Sith have done. Not to mention the duel was framed with the understanding that if he didn't win, it would be Luke's life in certain jeopardy. On the one hand he knows that Maul should die, that it would be both justice for what he's done and a pragmatic stemming of everything he may yet do. But on the other, there's the question of whether it's right or not for him to do it. Could he kill this person who was already defeated and kneeling, broken, in front of him, and not allow it to be an act of avenging Qui-Gon and dipping into the dark side?

Which brings me to the third major point: Owen Lars. Old Wounds is the best moment of truly driving home the feelings Owen has for "Old Ben" in A New Hope. He's taken it upon himself to protect Luke, and damn if he doesn't take that duty seriously. We get a look here at a man who isn't just an aging curmudgeon or a generalized nice guy, but someone willing to grab his blaster rifle and make a stand between Luke and whatever horned, cybernetic hell the galaxy had decided to throw at him. And though Obi-Wan and Maul's duel is the centerpiece, it's Owen's actions that have the greatest impact to the story. Owen, who had been soundly thrashed by Maul and kicked away like garbage, is the hero of the tail. When Obi-Wan is wavering, contemplating how or if to end the threat of Maul without succumbing to the dark side, Owen just puts a round through his head; there's no indecision to be found at all, just the simple understanding that this person means to hurt my family and if I don't do this, he more than has the means. And we see that it's the Jedi's ability to attract this sort of thing that bothers Owen so much. That life doesn't end just because Obi-Wan may have wanted it to, and the ghosts of Obi-Wan are still following Ben to Tattooine, so he's going to protect Luke from even that. He watches the watchman, you might say.

 

That's like every second Wolverine story ever. Overcoming death because you are aaaaaangry and grim and determined feels so cliché to me at this point.

Vengeance is also a very one-note motivation. I like it when a writer plays around with the concept. The vengeful guy realizing that without his object of hatred he would be a nothing or realizing that to take vengeance he has to become just as bad as the one who hurt him - that's a powerful yarn. But vengeance without any twist or depth? Boring.

Okay, that was an interesting moment, I give you that. But I recall that instead of really having OBW decide the decision was taken from him by Owen. Quite convenient and half-assed. I hate when dramatic potential is squandered because the author is too weak to go all the way.

I never thought of Owen as someone who wouldn't take a blaster and shoot so the comic doesn't tell me anything new. The fact that Owen is living on Tatooine in midst of a dangerous desert already tells me enough about the man.

 

What's interesting is that TCW also provided Obi-Wan at least two moments to finish off a foe, and both times he hesitated to strike the killing blow; Tal Merrik in Voyage of Temptation and Keeper Agruss in Escape from Kadavo. In both cases the decision was abruptly taken away from him by Anakin and Captain Rex, respectively. What is it about Obi-Wan that circumstances always seem to allow him a free pass on all of these agonizing decisions?

 

The Jedi are notorious for that. Bultar Swan did the same thing with Vader on Kessel.

Mace Windu seemed to have got over it with Palps when they fought in RoTS - he recognized the guy was too dangerous to live, and was about to just kill him.

 

So what are we saying Obi-wan is a coward? Rather let the galaxy burn then corrupt his own soul even a little bit.

 

Yes, Maul in Rebels, please, I thought he was more nasty when he came back. Not AS a Rebel, but maybe someone The Emperor puts on the tail of the aforementioned Rebels.

 

I say henchman type character under the Emperor's direct command. Perhaps sent out on missions like an assassin to be eventually killed off again in Rebels. Not really a big fan of the big bads in Rebels being dumbed down to 90s kids television villains again but its the best I can think to do with him. An eventual run in with Kenobi on Tatoonie sounds cool but we really need Maul to get burned to ash to make sure he stays gone.

 

Nah, save Maul's Tatoonie death for the eventual Obi-Wan spin-off movie! Sure, the majority of audience would have no idea what the hell Maul is doing there but I'd get a kick out of it.

 

I would say that Anakin is a good example of why it's a bad idea to 'corrupt his soul just a little bit.'

 

Anakin was just an idiot and fell because of fear. It was not really a matter of doing what had to be done and corrupting yourself.

 

Maul can't really work for Palpatine, he threw him away after TPM then killed his brother in TCW.

I can see Maul in Rebels. Let's say he's locked away and the Rebels raid the prison trying to free their own people.

The only question is who eventually kills him?

1) Obi-Wan
2) Uncle Owen
3) Vader
4) Ahsoka
5) Boba Fett
6) Palpatine
7) Sarlacc
8) Teen Mara
9) Ewoks
10) Ventress

 

I was all for Maul's return, to be perfectly honest. It was an idea that has been thrown around for ages and I always thought that he was very wasted in TPM.
As for him appearing in Rebels, well, I would say it would be fine if we get some kind of closure for him. One story arc or just a mention so that we at least know where he is (dead? in a dungeon? in a lab? out on a mission?).
Besides that, I don't think it'd be appropriate for him to play a larger role in the series on a regular basis.

 

I love the Darksaber..

 

I don't mind if Maul returns in Rebels as long as A) his story is wrapped up in the series and B) there is a decent explanation of what Palpatine planned to use him for.

True, but, what if it turns out that Palpatine conducted mind control style experiments and used Dark Side influence on Maul in order to turn him back into an unquestioning individual? What if Palpatine does this in order to turn Maul into some kind of obedient assassin? I know that sounds pretty cliche, but, as far as I'm concerned making Maul an unquestioning and obedient assassin for Palpatine would probably be the best role for him in Rebels.

 

Well Rebels could be good, or it can be on the same level as TCW. And one of the worst things in TCW imo was Maul coming back. If they want it to be good as TCW, then whatever. I probably won't watch it. Leave it for the kids.

 

In your opinion*

 

That saber was badass

 

Ewoks capture him and put him up for sale.

Boba buys him and feeds him to the Sarlaac as a consolation prize. Escaping from presumed "death" is his prerogative in SW, and copycat upstarts like Maul will not be tolerated.

 

No, Ewoks should cook him for dinner

 

That sums it up for me too.

 

What if a group of wanna be sith (They are not sith, but dark siders, die to the prophesy of the Chosen one) Discover Maul, and free him from his Carboite Prison hoping he would teach them all he knows about the dark arts of the sith, but instead he takes control of the group and forms his whole army? I mean, they wouldn't be sith, but they would be strong with the dark side!

Anyone know where to contact JJ Abrams?

 

I believe that Maul was brought back to enhance the sale of the franchise. So, I expect to see him in Rebels and in at least one of the spinoffs, if not the ST.


Right now, I'm blaming Darth Krayt Celeste for giving them the idea that stasis is aye-ok.