One of the biggest surprises in Solo: A Star Wars Story was the cameo by Darth Maul in the closing moments of the film, who was physically played by Ray Park, who played the character in Star Wars: A Phantom Menace, and voiced by Sam Witwer, who has voiced Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels.
However, according to Witwer in an interview with Star Wars Holocron, Maul’s role was originally different before he was hired. Although he wasn’t able to discuss all of the details of Maul’s original involvement, he did tease some inconsistencies in the film regarding the fan-favourite villain’s arc.
“There was stuff that had to happen once I got hired,” Witwer said. “There was a reshoot that had to happen because people like me and (Clone Wars and Rebels creator) Dave Filoni were letting them know there were a lot of details that weren’t consistent. That’s not me saying these people didn’t know what they were doing because they were making a movie and doing it at lightspeed. Ultimately, they did the right thing because they hired the people who were the experts on this like Dave Filoni and, I dare say, me because I’m kind of an expert on what we’ve been doing with Maul for the past decade, y’know? They were very open to hearing what we had to say and, again, they were so open that they did a reshoot.”
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He added, “Like I said, you can have the most talented people in the world and people can still drop the ball for a second. It’s always the willingness to go and pick it back up that I give people credit for. I don’t want to say that what [Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace voice actor Peter Serafinowicz] was doing was bad. It just didn’t sound recognizable as the character from The Phantom Menace nor the character from Clone Wars. It was a totally different thing. They needed people to recognize the voice, so there it is.”
In addition to seeing Maul in Solo: A Star Wars Story, you can also watch the character in the final season of The Clone Wars during The Siege of Mandalore story arc – where he is voiced by Sam Witwer and motion-captured by a returning Ray Park.
What did you think of Maul’s cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story? Let us know in the comments below or tweet us @flickeringmyth…
A new adventure with the most beloved scoundrel in the galaxy. Through a series of daring escapades deep within a dark and dangerous criminal underworld, Han Solo meets his mighty future copilot Chewbacca and encounters the notorious gambler Lando Calrissian, in a journey that will set the course of one of the Star Wars saga’s most unlikely heroes.
Solo: A Star Wars Story stars Alden Ehrenreich (Hail, Caesar!) as Han Solo, Donald Glover (Atlanta) as Lando Calrissian, Woody Harrelson (War for the Planet of the Apes) as Tobias Beckett, Joonas Suotamo (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) as Chewbacca, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) as L3-37, Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as Qi’ra, Thandie Newton (Westworld) as Val and Paul Bettany (Avengers: Infinity War) as Dryden Vos.
Originally published April 22, 2020. Updated July 17, 2020.
