There’s something exceedingly heartening about the star of a giant franchise revealing themselves to be as invested in that property as regular fans are, while talking about franchise entries in which they did not feature. Such is the case for Mark Hamill – also known as Luke Skywalker – as he spoke to the press during the recent Disney Expo, D23 and expressed his dismay about the loss of Darth Maul.
“Darth Maul was just the coolest looking. I couldn’t believe they disposed of him so quickly. I thought he would last through all three movies!”
Darth Maul is an icon of the Star Wars universe, despite the fact that he appeared only in the first of the prequel trilogy. The distinctive Sith Lord, played by Ray Park, was portrayed as an ambitious young man seeking to excel under the mentorship of his Dark Side masters. This implied some rivalry between himself and Anakin Skywalker, who would later become Darth Vader. The film saw him suffer devastating injuries during a lightsaber battle with Obi Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), and he was presumed dead for the two sequels.
He has found life in the extended Star Wars universe, however, with story arcs in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. He’s also appeared in non-canon Star Wars-related projects – which have played upon the humorous potential of his rivalry with Vader – including Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles and Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales. These resurrections are undoubtedly in response to the fandom embracing this sinister yet fascinating character – so perhaps Mark Hamill can take comfort in that.
Thankfully, in playing Luke Skywalker, Hamill has outdone Darth Maul in terms of live-action appearances in the core films and he’ll return once more in Star Wars: The Last Jedi on December 15th.
