Proving super-secret cameos needn’t be exclusive to the realm of comic book movies, Solo: A Star Wars Story arrived in theaters late last month with a secret of its own: Darth Maul.
That’s right, the Phantom Menace returned to haunt Star Wars viewers during the course of Ron Howard’s Anthology pic, when it was revealed that Qi’Ra (Emilia Clarke) contacted Maul, head of a crime syndicate known as Crimson Dawn, soon after defeating Dryden Vos, the scarred gangster brought to life by Paul Bettany.
For Maul, this was his first live-action appearance in almost 20 years, so you can imagine the great lengths that Ron Howard and his team went to in order to keep his cameo under wraps. As a matter of fact, as Alden Ehrenreich tells Entertainment Tonight (h/t ComicBook.com), the core cast of Solo wasn’t aware of the villain’s surprise return even when filming.
When we were going back and doing a few pick-ups. There was a part in the script where it said, ‘Somebody appears,’ and it wouldn’t say who. So there was a lot of speculation amongst the crew and cast about who is that gonna be. Then I found out a few months ago. I found out pretty late. Everyone was kind of talking about it and speculating. Some people were really convinced…there were a lot of rumors.
Asked whether he’d like to see a Han vs. Maul showdown, Ehrenreich told ET: “Maybe, yeah, that would be pretty cool. That would be great.” And as a wise man once said, hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side.
Solo: A Star Wars Story is still playing in theaters nationwide, but with only $319 million to its name, Lucasfilm will be hoping that the so-far untitled Episode IX will get things back on track.
