5 Years Ago Obi-Wan Kenobi Killed Darth Maul Again, and the World Forgot

Five years in the past in the present day, one of many coolest moments in Star Wars historical past occurred, and there’s an opportunity you don’t learn about it. It featured Obi-Wan Kenobi having one last lightsaber twin along with his longtime rival Darth Maul, and Kenobi killing Maul within the course of. However, the second didn’t function actors Ewan McGregor and Ray Park, it was Stephen Stanton and Sam Witwer. And it didn’t occur in a film, it was on animated TV present.

Co-written and directed by Dave Filoni, “Twin Suns,” the twentieth episode of the third season of Star Wars Rebels, first aired March 18, 2017 on Disney XD. Finally, audiences noticed the rivalry that started approach again in 1999’s Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace come to a conclusion. Oh, certain. Most folks in all probability thought that Episode I used to be the conclusion, since Obi-Wan Kenobi sliced Darth Maul in half, however when Star Wars: The Clone Wars government producer Dave Filoni determined to carry Maul again in that sequence, he knew that he had a duty to shut that loop.

“If there’s a character like Maul running around during one of the old films, he’s such a big-time player you think there would have been an echo of that somewhere,” Filoni instructed io9 again in 2017. “So it was just the right time to tell the story and bring that thread to an end.”

In the episode—which is at the moment streaming on Disney+, and also you completely don’t should be a Star Wars Rebels fan to get pleasure from it (we have now loads of suggestions if you wish to change into one although)—we see that Maul has been looking Kenobi. He’s tracked him to Tatooine however can’t discover him, so Maul makes use of the Dark Side to lure the star of Rebels, Jedi apprentice Ezra Bridger, to Tatooine within the hopes of drawing Kenobi out. The plan works, Maul arrives, and Obi-Wan sends Ezra off earlier than readying himself for a fateful conflict. This is not any duel of the fates, nonetheless—no grand, kinetic lightsaber battle of the ages that you just might need anticipated from the last showdown between these figures. Instead, in a handful of strikes, Obi-Wan turns Maul’s hubris towards him, successful in mere seconds. Once extra, a Sith is felled by the hands of a Jedi, and Maul and Kenobi share one final goodbye.

“Maul tries to get Obi-Wan with a very similar move as he gets Qui-Gon [in The Phantom Menace],” Filoni instructed us. “Which is he blocks and uses the blunt of his hilt to smack Qui-Gon in the face. So I had Maul try to do the same thing to Obi-Wan but again, to show growth, Obi-Wan is ready for that and slices it right in half.”

But it’s higher than that—this can be a conflict that isn’t concerning the theatricality of an prolonged motion sequence, however generations of trauma and grief that shadow over Maul and Obi-Wan alike at this level of their lives. Maul hates Obi-Wan, for apparent causes. When he lower him in half on Naboo, he mainly ruined his life. Maul’s grasp Darth Sidious, presuming him lifeless, discarded him and moved onto the subsequent apprentice. As a outcome, a life that would have led to final energy as a substitute turned a wrestle to outlive. The sheer decided will of Maul’s fury led to a lengthy and surprisingly tragic historical past involving robotic spider legs, evil relations, and finally his taking up against the law syndicate, amongst different issues. Before their showdown, Maul and Obi-Wan—who haven’t seen one another at this level since The Clone Wars, when Maul cruelly killed Mandalore’s Duchess, Satine Kryze, who was as soon as the item of Obi-Wan’s affections, proper in entrance of him—have an enchanting dialog. Maul says that whereas he actually, actually desires to kill the Jedi, he thinks leaving him to rot on this terrible planet is likely to be a worse destiny. Which rapidly leads Maul to a realization: Obi-Wan is there for a purpose. He’s defending… somebody. And as soon as Maul figures it out, Obi-Wan is aware of he have to be stopped. His mission, and the galaxy, is determined by it.

Obi-Wan does certainly cease him straight away, however simply as rapidly grabs his defeated foe in his arms as he struck him down. As his life drains out of him, Maul asks Obi-Wan if the individual he’s defending is the Chosen One who’ll defeat the Sith. Obi-Wan says it’s. “Then he will avenge us,” Maul says, lastly, painfully linking all his rage and anger to Obi-Wan—as a result of he, very like all of the Jedi, had been betrayed and ruined by Darth Sidious. It’s an extremely highly effective, poignant second, humanizing a villain all of us like to hate.

Everything concerning the episode is simply beautiful. The music, the cinematography, Maul’s tortured rants, his manipulation of Ezra, Obi-Wan’s grasp on all the state of affairs, and extra. In 22 minutes, Filoni packs in additional stakes, rigidity, story, and mythology than just a few of the more moderen Star Wars function movies.

Of course, most of the new Star Wars Disney+ exhibits have an identical really feel, largely as a result of Filoni continues to be a part of their improvement as a producer in addition to director, and that makes the timing of this anniversary much more attention-grabbing. You see, earlier this week, rumors started to unfold that Maul was thought of as a part of the upcoming Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi present, just for Filoni himself to nix the concept in favor of bringing again Darth Vader. And although Lucasfilm reportedly denied the rumor, the thought of it even being tangentially mentioned is a slap within the face to “Twin Suns,” which so elegantly exhibits not simply Maul and Kenobi displaying down for the final time, however, chronologically, one among our first glimpses of a younger Luke Skywalker as nicely.

Oh. Right. Speaking of elegantly doing issues that may occur on the Obi-Wan Kenobi present, “Twin Suns” goes one step additional, beating the upcoming present to being the primary to point out a younger Luke Skywalker operating round on Tatooine. (He’s only a small blip on the display screen right here, barely recognizable, whereas the brand new present can have him extra prominently.) Filoni instructed us concerning the choice in our interview 5 years in the past.

“We have to look at every episode of Rebels as if you’ve never seen Star Wars before,” he mentioned. “So if you think of it that way whenever Maul and Obi-Wan are talking about ‘The Chosen One’ or ‘Who are you protecting?’ If you never see or we don’t give the context of that, there are a lot of people who won’t know what’s going on there. The Star Wars fan will but the average person will not. So at the very least the scene establishes, in its simplest form, there’s Obi-Wan, he was protecting someone, and there’s a woman yelling ‘Luke,’ and we see what we think of as a young boy running. ‘Oh, so Obi-Wan is protecting a boy named Luke.’ It’s designed to give you that specific bit of information that you need in the story.”

“Now, if you’re a fan and you go ‘OH MY GOD that’s Luke Skywalker!’ that’s even better,” he continued. “Now you’re getting the whole thing… But from a sensible story point you have to have that scene at the end to give some idea of what this old man is doing in the desert. You can’t rely on the Star Wars films as if they’ve been universally watched even though we know they’re pretty popular.”

Sounds acquainted, does it not? Something being standard, however not so standard that you may assume everybody has seen it. Yes, the Star Wars movies are highly regarded. The Star Wars animated exhibits, nonetheless? Less so, despite their very heat status. But on the very, very least, “Twin Suns,” which debuted 5 years in the past in the present day, must be acknowledged proper alongside these movies—particularly because it so completely and succinctly did issues many will probably be gushing over in just a few months when the brand new Obi-Wan Kenobi present is launched.

“Twin Suns” is at the moment streaming on Disney+ as a part of Star Wars Rebels season three. Read extra of our Filoni interview from the episode’s premiere at this hyperlink.

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