The standout scene for many fans in last May’s Solo: A Star Wars Story has to be Maul’s surprise cameo, when it was revealed that Paul Bettany’s Dryden Vos was just a stooge for the former Sith Lord, who’d become a fearsome name in the galaxy’s criminal underworld as the true leader of the Crimson Dawn syndicate.
As it was such a well-kept secret, though, we don’t have too many shots from production of the character. The new Making Solo behind-the-scenes book, however, has given us this fascinating photo which sees director Ron Howard standing with actor Ray Park, in full Dathomirian make-up and sinister cloak, as they inspect a monitor.
Solo star Joonas Suotamo also recently shared another snap from the book on his Instagram feed, depicting himself in his Chewbacca gear, sans headpiece, chatting with Alden Ehrenreich on set. The actor made it clear in his caption that he’d love to return with the young Han for another prequel that would explore what happened after the pair nabbed the Millennium Falcon from Lando Calrissian.
If there were to be a sequel, there’d have to be more Maul as well, as his single scene in Solo promised a bigger role next time. If you’ll recall, he ordered Qi’ra to come to his homeworld so he could take Han’s untrustworthy first love under his wing. Presumably, he had another scheme in the offing, but who knows if we’ll ever find out what happened after this.
As Solo didn’t make enough noise at the box office, the most likely avenue for a follow-up would be Disney Plus; perhaps a smaller-budgeted movie or a miniseries could be produced for the streaming service. It would be frustrating if this plot-thread was left loose, after all. Even if we know how Maul met his final end in Star Wars Rebels.
While we wait for a Solo: A Star Wars Story sequel, the good news is that Maul will return in The Clone Wars season 7 – for which Park provided some mocap work – coming to Disney Plus sometime in 2020.
