We all know what Star Wars brought to the table in the late 1970s. But🦋, when George Lucas and company decided to return to the galaxy far far away, the excitement was slai🙈n by the product.
It was 1999, and the tension between Star Wars fans and the wait in the theatre line-ups was palpable. Leaving the cinema♒, however, the list of things that excited movie-goe🍨rs was tiny.
Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace, as it would be long-windedly called, brought us two of the most interesting things to the Star Wars mythos. The first is pod-racing. The slough of amazing arcade adventures, and that crazy cast of racers, coupled with the sounds. We loved pod-racing—and the Nintendo 64 game that person⭕ified it.
The second thing on that list was a minimally-seen, but highly impactful Sith apprentice known as Darth Maul. Introduced via creepy hologram on-screen to the trade federation, fans across the globe fell in love with Maul and his sinister appearance. And we fell even morꦑe in love when he battled Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon on Naboo, revealing the first instance of a double-bladed lightsaber, which was totally awesome.
Darth Maul has been on everything since, becoming a sort of mascot for the prequel trilogy and we couldn’t be happier about that. He became such a popular part of the Star Wars canon, that LucasFil🐽m knew they had 🍷to bring the Zabrak back into the spotlight eventually. Luckily for us, what we got later down the road was epic, and satisfying.
20 ♑ He Survived The Finale From The Phantom Menace
Surprise! He didn’t die. According to series creator George Lucas, the original on-screen death of Darth Maul during the fight with Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan was shot as just Maul falling down the unknown shaft. But he wanted to “make sure that people would think he died” so they cut him in half during post-production special effects. So, it seems he was always meant to “die” at the finale of that fight. However, the writers of The Clone Wars television show wrote him back in for both fan-service and to bolster the story of a beloved, and short-lived, character fr꧟om the prequel f🐼ilms. It’s unclear if the creators of the prequel films had any idea that leaving the theatres that fateful 1999 spring, movie-goers would find in their new Sith apprentice, a new favorite character.
19 ♛ Has Less Than NINE Minutes Of Screen Time In Ep.1
The theatrical cut of Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace only goes to show that those behind the franchise didn’t think Darth Maul would be such a hit. If anyone knows how to shove iconic characters down your throat, it’s LucasFilm and Star Wars. But the phantom adversary in the return to the Star Wars universe wasn’t given much time during the escapades of baby Skywalker and Co. With only two spoken lines and one re🐼al fight scene, Darth Maul, the Emperor’s apprentice, only had a total of nine minutes of screen time. How could they mishandle one of the coolest characters to date? Well many believe that is was done intentionally to keep the Sith in a mysterious fog. It worked. Fans immediately began clamoring for more.
18 You Can Be Darth🅰 Maul In Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 ꦐ
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (or THPS, as it was affectionately referred to) was the pinnacle of 90’s skate culture, music, and ultimate 90’s vibes. The franchise has a permanent place in the heart of every gamer from the 1990’s and still remains today on the strength of nostalgia. The third game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, was released in 2001 by Activision’s O2 studio. Each game in the series has a handful of secret characters. In 2001, a few years after the sequel trilogy landed in cinemas, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 🌟had our plucky dark Sith as a hidden character that you unlock by completing all 54 goals, and gaining all gold me🐈dals in the career mode (but only using Tony himself).
17 Almost Had His Own Amazing-Looking Video Game That Was Canceled🌊
Yes, you read that right. In the height of gaming heavy-weights trying grand things with the Star Wars franchise, and on the back of the successful (sort of) Force Unleashed games, LucasArts had (at one point) started working on a Darth Maul focused video game. Titled Star Wars: Maul, the game in development would be a single-player story revolving around the Dathomirian, and looked an awful lot like the successful Batman franchise from Rocksteady. It looked cool. It looked dark. The graphics looked phenomenal. And it died before we were ever told it existed. Fortunately, some concept art, and trailers were leaked years later and the world went nuts. But much like Battlefront 3 and Star Wars: 1313, it was canceled. So we will just have to dream.
16 Was Almost Played By Be🧸nicio Del Toro – Eventually The Role Was Given To Ray Park
Casting for The Phantom Menace was sketchy at best and we don’t want to talk about the mess that was Jar Jar’s voice actor (though I put most of that blame on direction than quality of work). However, did you know that famous actor Benicio del Toro (Sicario, The Usual Suspects, Sin City, and far more!) was originally cast to play the Sith apprentice Darth Maul? It’s true! According to Del Toro, he left the production prior to the movie going to camera because George Lucas started chopping up the script and removed almost all of Darth Maul’s spoken lines. Naturally, Benicio Del Toro still wanted to be in a Star Wars movie, and eventually got another shot in 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi where he played a notorious burglar and scabby individual named🌞 ꦦDJ.
15 🧔 Recovered By The Dark Power Of The Nights𒊎isters
In the Cartoon Network's Clone Wars series—not the Genndy Tartakovsky made Clone Wars show—we learn a lot about the Dark Sith Lord Maul. In the third season of the Nick show, episode 14 (written by George Lucas’ daughter Katie) we get hints that Darth Maul might have survived his halving in The Phantom Menace. But it isn't until the end of season four that we get an epic three-part arc (also written by Katie Lucas) introducing us to the new evolution of the evil Maul. Discovered by his brother Savage Oppress on a junk planet, it turns out that shaft he fell in led to the garbage, like every other open shaft in the Star Wars universe apparently.🐷 Mind broken Maul is then revitalized and brought back to his strength and (questionable) 🦋sanity via magic.
14 Has A Brother – And Takes Him In As His🔯 Apprentice
Like previously mentioned, it was Savage Opress (Darth Maul’s brother) that found him on the junk planet. Darth Maul, being a Zabrak from the Nightbrothers clan of the planet Dathomir, had two blood brothers before joining the Sith to become the Emperor’s apprentice. After the Dathomirian Nightbrother rescues Maul—acting as Asajj Ventress’ servant—the Zabrak warrior was later bolstered by Nightsister magic, becoming a powerful force. After the events during Ventress’ attempt to gain revenge on her old master (Count Dooku), his brother Darth Maul took him as his apprentice in hopes that the two could overthrow the current state of the Sith Empire and the Emperor’s grip on the galaxy. It was probably the greatest story-arc in the Star Wars expanded un෴iverse and culminated in a grand battle between the brothers, and♕ Emperor Palpatine.
13 He Actually Wants To Bring Balance To The Force ꩵ
Probably the most interesting fact about the character of Darth Maul is that his ties with the Sith are severed very early on in his life. Though you’d be hard pressed to find much evidence in his appearances during The Clone Wars long run, post Phantom Menace Maul wanted little to do with the Sith or the Empire. His hatred for Obi-Wan could only be matched by his hatred for the Emperor. Truly, as is better explored in the currently-running Star Wars Rebels show, Darth Maul sets out to eliminate both sides of the force, to ensure a rebirth of power, and bring true balance to the force. And, horrifically, he becomes a ma🍌ster manipulator and takes aid from both sides in his fight to reap revenge on Jedi and Sith alike.
12 ꦑꦯ Is The Child Of The Nightsisters Leader
The Nightsisters, the previously mentioned sinister sorcerers of Dathomir, are led by Mother Talzin, the eldest of the “witches.” The coven (or clan) are force-sensitive wilderness manipulators, include the nature of beings. Talzin, is the birth mother of Darth Maul, along with Feral and Savage Opress. Later becoming an ally of Darth Sidious (Emperor Palpatine), Talzin was promised the role of apprentice to the Dark Lord of the Sith. Instead, Sidious went back on hi🐼s promises, and rather took a young Maul from the Nightbrothers🃏, and his family, making him his apprentice. It was said that Sidious nearly took Talzin, but noticed the power within Maul. Later, Mother Talzin would save and resurrect her son Maul, and aid in his attempt to get revenge against the Jedi and the Sith.
11 The Bla🌃ck Marks On His Skin Are Actually Tattoos
When the vile menace known as Darth Maul was introduced, he was the first Zabrak to ever be revealed to the world. So little was known about him or his species. For a while, everyone believed that his red skin was adorned naturally with black markings, but as we learned later through the magic of Star Wars lore and expanded universe, the black marks on his skin were (are) tattoos. But what started as a Sith tradition, to mark the worth of the followers of the dark side, turned into a tradition to mark the coming of power by y💙oung Zabraks on Dathomir. Da⛦rth Maul, and his brother Savage Opress, received their tattoos prior to their first birthday. But with the crispness of his tattoos as an adult, who knows what his upkeep regimen is.