Despite having limited screen time in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace and apparently meeting his demise before the end of the movie, Darth Maul instantly became a cult favorite among the fanbase, so it wasn’t surprising when he began seeping back into the expanded mythology over the next two decades.
The Sith played a relatively small but still pivotal role in The Clone Wars and Rebels, which culminated in an epic rematch between Maul and Obi-Wan Kenobi, with the Jedi winning their climactic fight to the death. Shooting on Ewan McGregor’s hotly anticipated Disney Plus limited series is set to begin in a matter of weeks, and a new theory has now put forward a method for Darth Sidious’ former apprentice to return once more.
On the surface, it makes a lot of sense, with The Mandalorian establishing the animated lore as live-action canon, while also connecting to Maul’s brief appearance in Solo, where he was tied to the Crimson Dawn organization. The theory comes from Redditor Owenator_Productions, and you can check it out below.
“In the show we will follow Obi Wan doing his existential stuff of course, and then Vader trying to track him down. This will lead Vader to find Maul, maybe thinking Maul has some knowledge about Kenobi’s whereabouts. But Maul has no idea that Obi Wan survived. Vader finds Maul, fights him, and the Empire proceeds to destroy Crimson Dawn.
Maul survives, earning the name ‘The Shadow’ that the Inquisitors in Rebels refer to him as. As a result of the destruction of his criminal syndicate, Maul flees which leads him to where he is at the start of Rebels, stranded on Malachor. Maul has just learned from Vader something important, that Obi Wan might still be alive. This makes him go crazy to find Obi Wan again, connecting directly into Rebels where he attempts to find him.”
Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni might not be involved in Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the duo’s Mandalorian protege Deborah Chow is directing the entire run of episodes, and the small screen arm of Star Wars is hardly known for shying away from fan service. And seeing Darths Vader and Maul together in live-action would no doubt send the internet into meltdown as long as it serves the story, of course.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is set a decade after the events of Revenge of the Sith, so there’s plenty of space in the timeline for the events described above to unfold, but whether or not that’s the direction Lucasfilm are heading in we’ll just have to wait and see.