The Star Wars franchise is full of exciting animated projects that do an excellent work expanding the vast and beloved real action universe that George Lucas established in 1977 with Star Wars: a new hope. But fans can expect at least one more animation series: Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lordwhich was recently announced at the Star Wars Celebration of Japan. Actor Sam Witwer, who has put a voice to Maul in all his animated appearances over the years, spoke with Ign on project development during an exclusive interview.
Witwer, who will star in the new series as Darth Maul, revealed IGN at what time in Star Wars’s temporal line is Shadow Lord and Maul’s mental state At this point in history.
“It develops A year later At the end of the clone wars, and Maul is in a very difficult situation, because the people who accompanied him, many abandoned or betrayed him during the clone wars. So we are dealing with a guy who tries to find out: ‘What is my purpose?’. Remember that Maul is a user of the force with classical training, a very classically trained Sith, “Witwer explained.
Why did Maul never abandoned Palpatine?
“He comes from an era of magic, gentlemen, passion, enthusiasm, aggressiveness, fire … now he is seeing an empire that knew it would come, and magic and color are disappearing from the universe. How do you feel about it? Did things foresee like this? Is it different from what I expected and how do you feel it affects you? What do you want to do about it? Can you do something about it? It is not very trained at this time. So we are facing a guy who is trying to discover What is your destination“.
Witwer also pointed out that the way in which Maul perceives things at this time is deeply influenced by his breeding. “Another thing: he was trained all his life to hate and kill Jedi, and killed more Jedi that people knew during the clone wars. You know, there are indications that he and Savage Opress also unleashed a wave of violence. It was worse than you think. And now they are no longer. How do you feel about the Jedi, their enemy, now that they have gone? All this questions its perspective. What is your destination? Who is without his greatest enemy to fight and destroy? And learn that perhaps part of his destiny is to inspire a young person; train an apprentice. “
Unfortunately, the only thing Witwer wanted to share about the mysterious apprentice is that he is a “very surprising” character. “I can’t tell you much more,” he added. “But it’s quite special”.
Witwer, also known for his roles in Battlestar Galactica and Smallville, has assumed a role in the development of this project, and seems to have been Very enriching Work directly with the Lucasfilm CCO, Dave Filoni. “Dave has always been very collaborator, in fact, wonderfully collaborator, and in this case they said: ‘Well, you have been playing this character for 15 years,” “the actor revealed. “So you have to be more involved than ever, because we need to opines About things, we need people with whom these issues discuss. So it has been exciting in that sense, having constant calls, emails and discussions. And it has been educational. “
The actor He has worked a lot in Maul’s archwhich he talked openly from his “death” in the ghost threat to his reappearance in Clone Wars and his final confrontation with Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars Rebels. “Well, if we are developing this chapter, it is important to review all that information and see it more close than ever, because we must learn new things about this character Or it is not worth it“Witwer told Ign in Japan.” When reviewing those previous works, I have always had many questions about this character. There are things that I feel that the audience has not yet noticed, but they are worth exploring. For example, Why did Maul never abandoned Palpatine?“.
And why didn’t he? Witwer deepened In this question. “You have a series where the Jedi say: ‘We know that there is someone called Darth Sidious. We know that he is manipulating everything, and we are trying to find out who he is, who Mr. Sith is. Maul, during all those years, knows exactly who Mr. Sith is; I could go to a telephone cabin, call the Jedi and tell them: ‘It’s Palpatine’, hang the phone and ruin Palpatine’s plans. He never does. Because? Why doesn’t Palpatine betray?“.
He added: “The only moment he finally decides, ‘Ok, I will betray Palpatine’, is in the end, just before the world ends, with order 66 and the end of the clone wars. It scares so much that, in an act of despair, He turns to Ahsoka Tano. But Palpatine has caused him a lot of suffering. Palpatine took Savage Opress. Palpatine killed his family. Palpatine took his mother. Palpatine showed no loyalty to Maul, and at the time Maul found loyalty in Savage Opress, Palpatine took that. So what happens? Why did Maul maintain this loyalty? What does that character have? What are we learning from Maul through things like these? “
For Witwer and the team that is developing this project, Maul’s past is crucial To understand who is in the present. “These are the questions that I have been asking for years, and with this series we have the opportunity to create stories about them. I mean, they are not flashbacks, we do not literally tell those stories, but There are aspects of that character that have not been exploredfeatures that this character possesses and that people would not think that they have, because it is different from Palpatine, “explained the actor.
“Palpatine is a mythical villain, a 10 of 10, is as bad as it can be. Maul is not like that. If you see The Clone Wars very closely, you will see that it does not kill without need. I am saying too much. It is a bad guy, very bad in this series, but in our history, The bad ones face worse. So Maul is as bad as before, and even, in some aspects, worse. “
Bades that become worse? It seems exactly what we like! This series is still in development, which means that We are far from a release datebut for now, we can dream how incredible it seems to be.
