The upcoming “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series will boast the return of various faces, but one key character will not be showing up – Darth Maul.
A new story up at THR indicates Ray Park’s Darth Maul was initially slated to return as a key villain with Park, who last played Maul in a cameo in “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” in active prep to reprise the role. That was back when Hossein Amini was the original writer.
Then in early 2020, pre-production paused. Officially the word was that Lucasfilm was unhappy with the scripts. Now according to the sources of the trade magazine, director Deborah Chow showed the scripts to “Star Wars” stewards Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau who were working on the second season of “The Mandalorian” at the time.
Filoni and Favreau were allegedly concerned about the show covering similar ground as “Mandalorian”. They also pushed Chow and the show to ‘go bigger’ and concerns were enough Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy pressed the pause button. Ultimately Joby Harold was hired as the show’s new writer.
How far along the earlier version was is unclear but a boy was reportedly chosen to play young Skywalker though no scenes were shot. In the overhaul, Maul was written out and Filoni conceptually keyed in a way for Vader to be brought back as the big bad while the Grand Inquisitor was also added to the story.
A new search for a young Skywalker got underway with Grant Feely (“Creepshow”) reportedly picked for the role. A Lucasfilm source has denied the report telling the trade Maul was never intended to return for the series, nor did Park come to set.
The six-episode “Obi-Wan Kenobi” series launches on the Disney+ service on May 25th.