Sam Witwer Talks Darth Maul in Star Wars Rebels Season 3.

Maul

Maul (“Darth” emeritus) made an unexpected return in the Season 2 finale of Star Wars Rebels. IGN has just uploaded a new interview with his voice actor (Sam Witwer) discussing what his role in Season 3 will entail, along with his view on whether or not Maul could survive a fight with either of the two surviving Sith Lords.

 

 

 

Witwer’s view that Ezra places a degree of trust in Maul due to his status as the only completely-trained Force user that he’s currently in contact with is an interesting take on the dynamic of master and apprentice, and that Maul blinding Kanan was directly done as a way to sow discord between him and Ezra. Maul’s “sneaky” approach is also justified due to his ultimate failure to impact the outcome of the Clone Wars, as is his evolution as a character in response to what he’s been through. Maul would obviously be no match for Darth Sidious, but it seems as though Witwer danced around whether or not Maul could take on Darth Vader. All interesting things to consider as we wait for the show to return in the Autumn.

 

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Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

Grant Davis (Pomojema)

Grant has been a fan of Star Wars for as long as he can remember, having seen every movie on the big screen. When he’s not hard at work with his college studies, he keeps himself busy by reporting on all kinds of Star Wars news for SWNN and general movie news on the sister site, Movie News Net. He served as a frequent commentator on SWNN’s The Resistance Broadcast.

41 thoughts on “Sam Witwer Talks Darth Maul in Star Wars Rebels Season 3.

  • August 8, 2016 at 12:24 am
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    I think it’s so awesome that Maul is becoming a way to bridge the prequels and the orig trig. All I want now is him to have a showdown with Vader, or maybe have an influence the timeline here.

    • August 8, 2016 at 2:55 am
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      I’m pretty sure that “Darthbowl” is going to be a thing, since they originally planned for Maul to die in the Season 2 finale before deciding to have him stick around for a while.

      – Pomojema

      • August 8, 2016 at 4:43 am
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        I’m pretty sure that they’ll duel at one point or another. It be a huge misuse of the character not to have Vader and Maul duel.

        • August 8, 2016 at 5:39 pm
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          Or maybe they’ll introduce Vader in Rogue One at the end of the duel, carrying Maul’s head like a tennis ball and getting interrupted by an emergency communique from Tarkin regarding the stolen plans.

          Oh bestill my heart!

          • August 9, 2016 at 5:38 am
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            Maybe in the R-rated Ultimate Edition.

  • August 8, 2016 at 1:09 am
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    The dude got cut in half and fell down a seemingly bottomless pit. This kind of unwillingness to let characters just die of degrades franchises. That said I don’t really watch rebels, but I can’t get over the spider legs Maul from the clone wars. Is there a Kurt Cobain running around somewhere with a mechanical spider head?

    • August 8, 2016 at 1:27 am
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      No, because he took a shotgun shell to the head and there was probably nothing left.

    • August 8, 2016 at 1:48 am
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      Funny, the franchise is stronger than ever. No signs of degrading so far…

    • August 8, 2016 at 2:30 am
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      Yes, normally people die when cut in half and then falling from a great distance. But Maul had magical powers and was cut in half by another dude with magical powers AND a lazer sword, in a galaxy with faster than-than-light travel, clone armys, sentient droids, and millions of alien species. When you think about the difference between REAL LIFE and SPACE FANTASY, it’s not to hard to make the connection there. Beside, the central character of the whole story, Darth Vader, is basically Robocop’s evil twin-brother and no-one questions his validity. Sliced and diced, burned by boiling lava, turned into a machine? Totally plausible, you know.

      • August 8, 2016 at 3:36 am
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        The difference is that Vader was presented to us in that way from the outset unlike Maul who was killed off and then revived as they presumably decided there was more mileage in the character. The point I was making isn’t about the plausibility of bionics in sci fi but that franchises don’t like to let go of characters (mainly villains) that they’ve already killed off, it seems a bit cheap, and if you come to expect someone to come back from the dead then its not really a big deal when villains get killed off as you expect them to rise again.

        • August 8, 2016 at 7:17 am
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          they just better not do it again. I hear you, but Maul is just an awesome character now more than ever. They did a good job with it overall, but yeah the spider legs kinda weirded me out for a minute.

      • August 8, 2016 at 8:46 pm
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        While i 100% agree with you, i was always wondering myself… Okay we know lightsaber cauterize wounds or severed limbs which prevents too much bleeding. BUT, on his fall the Maul’s guts should had to fly eveywhere no ? Has he used the Force to maintain everything in place ?

        • August 8, 2016 at 9:52 pm
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          The Force is a funny thing, is it not? And the users of it (as well as the writers and directors of SW) are very selective in it’s use. If Maul was powerful enough and had the presense of mind to preserve himself on the way down that shaft, the my question is this. Why could not Vader have used the Force to move himself away from the lava that bbq’d him on Mustafar? Apparently the Jedi teachings on suppressing pain in combat could use a little Zen, as Maul seems to have already mastered it.

          I think this whole thing with Maul vs. Vader is sith-inspired sham. Remember when Sidious fried up Maul during their last meeting? Sidious told him “You have already been replaced, but I still have use for you.” Maul is pretending to be for himself. He is either baiting the rebels to draw them out in hopes of gaining the Emperor’s favor again, an Emperor’s Hand type figure, or he’s being pawned to keep Vader on his toes like in the comic.

          • August 9, 2016 at 12:08 am
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            Anakin let himself burn to break Obi-Wan heart’s. Remenber the look on his face when his hair are burning. It’s screaming : ” Look what you have done to me “. Just my theory though.

            Yeah, i like your theory on Maul and Vader. I think a confrontation could happen in Season 3. This time Vader will cut him in half but in a perpendicular way. lol

        • August 9, 2016 at 1:30 am
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          The saber would cauterize everything it touched, so Maul would have had in instant seal over his wound – his most difficult task would have been to use the force to break his fall in his severely injured condition and not SPLAT at the bottom of the shaft.

  • August 8, 2016 at 2:38 am
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    I wouldn’t say he was “completely” trained. I think Witwer’s term of “classically” trained fits much better.

  • August 8, 2016 at 5:33 am
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    as much as i still believe in the fact that maul should die at the hands of obi-wan kenobi (ya know, because he killed his master/father figure and his girlfriend) , it seems less likely it’ll happen. loved his arc throughout the clone wars and i’m sure he’ll be interesting in this next season of rebels. let’s see what happens!

    • August 8, 2016 at 8:27 pm
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      Maul must be the main villain if they decide -and they should- make an Obi-Wan movie. It could have some flashbacks refreshing the story that both characters shared in TCW animated series. Imagine the Obi struggles with the dark side when enslaved, the romance with Satine, Maul fighting with that fancy darksword, lol… Maul could return for revenge and could be a very personal movie that would enrich the Obi-Wan’s late training days.

      • August 8, 2016 at 8:40 pm
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        Agree, with Cate Blanchett portraying Satine

        • August 8, 2016 at 11:26 pm
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          I would watch Cate Blanchett play a saltine.

      • August 8, 2016 at 8:55 pm
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        the problem with that is that they’ve already established him in animated form on rebels.. and that too, it seems like he has a prominent role.. also rebels has a very limited timeline, so having him switch from one medium to another is going to be awkward. secondly, most star wars fans haven’t seen clone wars.. so having flashbacks to the clone wars stories would seriously confuse mass audiences (many of whom believe maul died after being sliced in half in TPM). trust me, i want with all of my heart a kenobi flick where maul is the main villain, but it seems like it would be a logistical nightmare

        • August 9, 2016 at 12:24 am
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          I know it could be kind of delicate to bring both mediums together but aren’t they telling stories about the same canon anyways? I love some of the stories that TCW and Rebels have brought to us but some have been told in a very, let’s say ‘unconvincing’ way, imho. I thing real action movies -when done right- tend to validate stories that come from other mediums, not for being a better medium ‘per se’ but mostly because they can reach bigger masses, that’s why I think good stories from TV series can make the pass to the big screen, specially when they do it just to set a totally new story. In a standalone Kenobi movie, the flashbacks -again, when done right- would be indeed the way to avoid mass audiences to get confused (and also a sweet candy for those who actually watched the TV series), maybe we could avoid some stuff like Satine romance but definitely we’d need to explain how could Maul be still alive. In this movie, Kenobi could be struggling with an apparently pointless stay in Tattoine, while there is a whole war developing up there. We could have a new character, maybe a harmless and naive one, someone outside the troubles of the galaxy through which Kenobi wouldn’t be afraid to tell his most personal past. I think a movie like this has a lot of potential because we could have a fresh and more intimate view of this beloved character without necessarily taking the risk to touch the main plot of the original trilogy and still have some epic showdowns. Besides, everyone want to bring Ewan back to the galaxy far, far away 🙂

          • August 9, 2016 at 6:21 am
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            i agree with all your points.. it’s just that i’m not sure the disney execs share the same vision. we can just continue to pester them until we get our kenobi film!! haha

    • August 8, 2016 at 11:17 pm
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      How many times is he expected to kill the guy though? If it’s Obi Wan again, I can’t help but imagine an audience going “Uh-huh…THIS time he really killed him, tots and fur reelz ::rolleyes::”

  • August 8, 2016 at 5:41 am
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    I love that Maul is back in Rebels. He’s a wonderfully complex and interesting character with a fascinating past. Sadly I think he’s far better developed than any of the characters introduced in Force Awakens.

    • August 8, 2016 at 8:07 am
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      Or some, at least.

    • August 8, 2016 at 5:30 pm
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      Technically, in current canon, he has no past before his few lines in TPM.

  • August 8, 2016 at 7:13 am
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    Maul just keeps getting better. He’s easily one of my top favorite characters ever and that is more or less due to what they’ve done with him since PM. Witwer is the man.

  • August 8, 2016 at 10:48 am
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    He can’t. That’s why Palpatine chose Anakin instead of him.

  • August 8, 2016 at 11:45 am
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    Rebels is a disgrace.

    • August 8, 2016 at 3:40 pm
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      Care to provide an explanation?

      • August 8, 2016 at 5:51 pm
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        He’s a troll. He has no explanation. If he truly hated Rebels so much, he wouldn’t have come to an article about Rebels. I know I actively avoid articles about Twilight. I don’t need to go tell all the Twilight fans how much I hate their movie. lol

        • August 8, 2016 at 11:12 pm
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          I dunno…for anyone still obsessing on Twilight in 2016 maybe an intervention is in order.

          • August 8, 2016 at 11:12 pm
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            lol. It’s just an example.

          • August 8, 2016 at 11:15 pm
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            These are the jokes – laugh with me, LAUGH with me, Freakazoid!

          • August 8, 2016 at 11:16 pm
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            I never really watched Freakazoid as a kid. Probably should have.

          • August 9, 2016 at 3:41 am
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            Such much good. Warners Animation was knocking it out of the park during that period – Freakazoid, PatB, Animaniacs, Batman TAS – such amazing writing, casting, and direction in shows that are smart in the same way the classic WB cartoons are smart.

    • August 8, 2016 at 5:29 pm
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      Ice cream is made with solar flares.

      I like this game.

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