Sam Witwer, the voice actor behind Darth Maul, took inspiration from another Star Wars villain in Emperor Palpatine.
Since surviving his apparent ‘death’ in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Darth Maul has gone onto become one of the most fascinating villains in the Star Wars franchise with actor Sam Witwer voicing the role on numerous occasions in both film and TV.
Maul’s villainous career spanned multiple decades and Witwer has told IGN that his voice had to change along with the times, revealing that Palpatine himself was an influence:
“With Maul’s voice, it changes. Maul’s voice now is different than the younger Maul. I always ask, ‘What era Maul are we doing?’… The older he is, he starts becoming more colorful and weird. Between the Serafinowicz voice that was established in The Phantom Menace, I took a lot from Palpatine. Because that’s his dad, really, so he would have learned a lot of things from Palpatine. His sense of humor is Palpatine’s sense of humor. When things are going well for these gentlemen, everything is hilarious. Only when things are going well.”
Witwer was last heard voicing Maul in The Clone Wars’ final season but surely it won’t have been for the last time. There are plenty of opportunities to see the conniving and elusive villain once again in animated form or on film or TV.
Originally published August 20, 2020. Updated August 19, 2020.
