One of the coolest and most dangerous Sith in the Star Wars Universe is making a return. Darth Maul will step into the small screen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and you can absolutely bet his comeback will be worth watching.
Maul is fueled by his hatred of Obi-Wan Kenobi and it sounds like he has some huge plans in store for the Jedi. But a lot has changed in the galaxy since he went tumbling down a tunnel in two pieces. Now it's time to see how Maul will respond to the new world around him as he inflicts quite a disturbance in the force.
Sam Witwer (Being Human, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed) is putting his heart and soul into Maul and we got to talk for awhile about the emotionally demanding role. Our chat even sways into Batman and Wolverine's terrority. Read on, Star Wars fans, and when you're done, don't forget to share your thoughts in the comments section below!
You’re stepping into the shoes of one of the most infamous and badass Sith in the Star Wars Universe. What’s that like?
It’s a lot of fun. As a Star Wars fan, it’s fun but it’s also a big responsibility because I don’t want to let anyone down. It’s all about delivering some really high quality entertainment to some very discerning people.
What’s your favorite thing about Darth Maul?
I like how smart and charming he is. That’s something you might not necessarily see in these next few episodes, but you will see that sometime in the future. We’ve really created a very compelling and interesting guy who has a lot more to him than maybe people knew.
I never thought the word “charming” could be used to describe Darth Maul.
Yeah, he’s really smart, cunning, and dangerous. It adds a whole other layer of dangerous to this character.
If there was a bounty on Darth Maul’s head, could any of the Star Wars Bounty Hunters actually collect the reward?
Oh, I don’t know if they could. That’s a tall order. They wouldn’t just be dealing with Maul, but they’d also be dealing with Savage Opress and both of those two together are....that’s a tall order! Nothing against Simon Pegg [playing as Dengar], but I’m sorry, man, that’s a tall order!
Darth Maul has come back a handful of times in the comics, but those never really stuck. What makes this return so different?
Those stories are very linear, one-shots... essentially the character you saw from Phantom Menace. Those stories are more about how badass Darth Maul is, but we’re doing a story about how damaged Darth Maul is. We’re doing a story about how psychologically unstable and messed up this character is.
That’s great to hear because in Phantom Menace he had, what? Two lines and we just fell in love with him for his exceptional fighting abilities. But, do we still get to see more of his badassery in Clone Wars?
Oh, certainly! I talked a lot about how he’s this strategic and tactically minded guy. He could have been a general, he could have been so much more. But, of course we get to see him demonstrate his battle prowess. He’s as dangerous as he ever was, probably more so. Don’t worry; it’s not that we changed anything. We made sure there sure there are times where he sounds absolutely like he did in Phantom Menace and we made sure there are absolutely times where what the fans are waiting for and what they want. But what we also do beyond that is also give you a lot more of perhaps what you haven’t thought of. That’s the fun of it.
Speaking of the fans, there’s a lot of concern from them over Maul’s return. This awesome character was killed off before he really had time to grow and people are scared he’s going to suffer another quick death and it’ll be a waste of the character.
If you’re going to make a big move like this and bring Darth Maul back, there’s going to be major consequences with that move for everyone, the entire universe. The whole story should react to that. I wouldn’t be worried about Darth Maul, I’d be worried about everyone else. I mean that sincerely, you should be worried about the other characters.
There’s a stigma that The Clone Wars is only for kids and because of that a lot of older fans haven’t really given it a chance. What do you want to say to the fans missing out on the show?
You have to think of The Clone Wars as the original Star Wars trilogy. You started with Star Wars, which was a very kid friendly, bright, enthusiastic movie where the good guys were good and the bad guys were bad. It was really fun, it was a popcorn movie. Then Empire Strikes Back got dark. So if you think of the series as the same way of progression as the Star Wars movies, we’re in Empire Strikes Back territory now. This means the plot lines have to be older in origin. They have to more adult, more shades of grey.
At this point, we’ve reached a level where the adult content matches the stuff you’d see in the darker Star Wars movies. We don’t play around with this Darth Maul stuff. We went into Apocalypse Now territory and we did it on purpose. I wouldn’t want to be on this show so damn much if it wasn’t really challenging material.
General Grievous is also playing a role in this story. Is there any chance these two will bump heads and possibly have an epic lightsaber battle?
Yes, there’s always a chance something like that will happen. Is Grievous the chief imitation? Was Darth Maul supposed to be Grievous? Think about that. Palpatine raised this guy with the intention of starting the Clone Wars and Darth Maul was going to be right there, front and center in that way. Then he died. So now he’s brought back ten years later and he realizes the party started without him and he’s not happy about that. You can imagine that Grievous is like a joke to Darth Maul. This is a hideous replacement. Same thing with Dooku. He’s like “this guy, really? This politician? And his crazy droid 'I’m addicted to cosmetic surgery pal’ Grievous?” He’s thinking these guys don’t belong where they are because this was my job.
Obviously there’s a little bit of hate for Obi-Wan seeing as he cut him in half and all that. Based on the trailer, it’s looking like Maul’s primary objective is revenge and he has Kenobi in his sights.
When me and Dave [Filoni] were talking about the story, one of the things we did bring up was “so it’s Khan and Kirk, isn’t it?” There’s a little bit of that in there. It’s not entirely that and there’s some major differences, but there is definitely an obsession. Everything he’s doing is for Obi-Wan to a certain extent. It’s the absolute opposite of love and it’s all for that one guy. And you’ll see the lengths he goes to. At one point he’ll have one plan, and then he’ll realize that plan isn’t good enough, so he’ll come up with better and bigger ideas. Maul is nothing if not ambitious.
So you’ve been Darth Maul and you’ve been Starkiller. Aside from them, who’s your favorite Star Wars character?
Luke! He’s what the original trilogy is all about. It’s his growth. It’s about his journey of being this kind of nerdy kid to being his own man and making decisions based on what he thinks is right rather than what anyone is telling him. That’s a really satisfying story right there. For anyone that doesn’t give Luke enough credit, look at that performance! Appreciate the fact that there’s no point in any of the movies where when you look at Mark Hamill and it’s not clear what he’s going through or how he feels about something. It’s always ridiculously clear.
Hamill’s really well known for his take on The Joker. Are there any non-Star Wars characters you’d like to dive into?
I would love to try Two-Face. That’s a character I have some very specific ideas about that no one has quite done in the way that I would like to do them. Also, you know what, Batman! Why not? Screw it, let’s throw my hat in the ring! When they reboot Batman in five years because they always like to reboot stuff too soon, I’d love to try that out.
Yeah, Batman will definitely get the reboot treatment when Nolan is done. Who would you want to see direct?
I want Frank Darabont to direct it. He will put the characters first before anything. He’ll be chiefly interested in what’s happening to the people. My vision for a Batman movie is the first one should have no villains. No super villains in any way, shape or form. It should be him. He’s the crazy center of the movie. It’s him and the world dealing with him. Is that not compelling enough of a story? A guy dressed up as a bat! Then when you do a second movie, that’s when someone else tries to up the crazy.
There has been some amazing art of Darth Maul and Wolverine facing off. What do you think would happen if these two actually met and who would be left standing?
I don’t remember Wolverine having the force.
Explain to me this: is his trachea made of adamantium? I don’t think so. Come on, he can end it pretty quick. (laughs)
Thanks, Sam!
You can catch new episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars Friday’s on cartoon network at 8pm.