I firmly believe Star Wars does not need a Darth Maul show, and here’s the reason why

The ongoing Star Wars Celebration in Japan has confirmed the arrival of Darth Maul: Shadow Lord. While the future seems promising for the Star Wars franchise, I couldn't be excited for the upcoming animated seires of Darth Maul. The past years have led me to believe that a Darth Maul show isn't exactly needed to keep the franchise running, as it already seems to be doing pretty well given the success of recent shows such as Andor.

Here are the reasons why.

Darth Maul has already been over-used

Despite the announcement, the upcoming Darth Maul show hasn't garnered much fanfare in the wake of its confirmation. This goes on to speak volumes about the fatigue that I and other members of the audience face when presented with the prospect of trudging through another iteration of a character which is already over-used and seems complete. It's true, the arc of Darth Maul has been sufficiently explored in the past, leaving little to no room for further expansion.

The Star Wars villain appeared for the first time on Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Meance almost quarter of a century ago and was quite striking owing to it's demonic countenance. While the character remained relatively insignifcant during this time, he was later resuscitated by Sam Witwer's exceptional voice acting on The Clone Wars.

The reason why I believe that another Darth Maul show is unnecessary is because we are already acquainted with what happens to him, i.e. him being stranded on Malachor. There doesn't seem to be any green pastures wherein his story could be adapted for a contemporary audience and any effort to plot his origin story is bound to go in vain.

Sam Witwer speaks about the character

Witwer had come to be associated as the voice of the villain for a long time, lending nuance and character to an otherwise non-entity in the larger scheme of things. Witwer had spoken in an exclusive interview with StarWars.com back in 2017 about his take on the character:

"We were very, very cognizant about when we would add a personality quirk or show the intellect of the man. But we had those discussions because we were worried. (Laughs) We were like, this is already a little difficult for the fans to accept because he was cut in half. We knew that there was mythological basis for this guy having survived."

He had further added:

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"It was our responsibility to make a character with intellect and a heart and a soul and dreams of his own. I'm thrilled, because we didn't get to finish The Clone Wars in the way that we had planned. We had a lot more Maul to go. So being able to conclude that arc with this character that I've been playing now for a few years, it's tremendously meaningful for me, and I feel very lucky to be here."

The animated series is supposed to arrive sometime in 2026.

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