Share and Follow
Despite his untimely “death” at the end of The Phantom Menace, cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi and sent tumbling into the depths of Naboo, Star Wars just can’t seem to quite Darth Maul. Years after his initial demise, Lucasfilm decided Palpatine’s former Sith apprentice had in fact survived the fall, and proceeded to bring him back in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, first as a rage-fueled monstrosity with spider legs made out of trash and later as a crime lord who at one point even ruled over Mandalore from the shadows. Most recently, we saw him return to live action in Solo: A Star Wars Story in a cameo that seemed to tease that there was still much more of his story to tell.
Yet, as Prequel Trilogy fans, the villain’s resurrection didn’t happen over night. It took over a decade, from his death in the 1999 blockbuster to his surprise return in 2012 in The Clone Wars episode “Brothers,” to bring him back to the galaxy far, far way.
Read Related Also: Movies That Actually Look Like Comic Books On Screen
But if George Lucas had gone with his original plan for the Prequel Trilogy, Maul would have returned much sooner and in a far more unlikely form. Speaking with Slashfilm, Clone Wars writer Henry Gilroy revealed Lucas’ alternate idea for the horned Sith’s comeback: “George was considering that Grievous was Maul behind the armor plate,” Gilroy admitted, referring to the cybernetic baddie and lightsaber aficionado General Grievous. According to Gilroy, under Lucas’ original plan, Grevious would have revealed his true identity to Obi-Wan before his death in Revenge of the Sith.
Grievous first appeared in Genndy Tartakovsky’s brilliant Clone Wars micro-series as a Separatist General obsessed with replacing his body parts with the droid equivalents and collecting the lightsabers of the Jedi he’d killed on the battlefield. Studying under the Sith Count Dooku, Grievous became a master of the lightsaber, despite having no Force abilities (the robot parts probably helped out there). He also has a fierce rivalry with General Kenobi, with the two facing off in a final duel in Revenge of the Sith that ends with the villain burnt to a crisp.
