The best Darth Maul actor loved seeing him die

The author Chris Snelgrove
| Published 33 seconds ago

In The Phantom Menace, The X-Men veteran Ray Park brought Darth Maul to life, and his mysterious villain quickly became the highlight of the entire prequel trilogy. However, as die-hard fans know, Park isn't actually the best actor to bring this Sith warrior to life. That honor goes to Sam Witwer, the voice actor of Darth Maul, who explains why he loved his character's death at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the video below. Rebels.

Sam Whitwer and the Death of Darth Maul

If you don't have Sam Witwer's near-encyclopedic knowledge of Star Wars, you may need a quick refresher… in short, The Clone Wars the cartoon confirmed it Darth Maul had cheated death and the hero continued to torment our heroes Rebels spinoff. In one episode of Rebelswe get a rematch between Maul and a much older Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the fight ends almost immediately with Qui-Gon Jinn's former student killing this Sith once and for all. Many fans complained that this fight was short and ultimately disappointing, but in this video from the fan conference, Wittwer broke down why the fight was so perfect.

According to Sam Witwer, Darth Maul's death was caused by the fact that Obi-Wan Kenobi accepted the maturity of old age and effectively lured the Sith warrior into a trap. The voice actor pointed out that by carefully watching Kenobi's movements, he moves through various lightsaber positions, effectively transitioning from the young Obi-Wan to the older Obi-Wan. Witwer sees this cycling as the old man's way of realizing that he has changed both as a warrior and as a Jedi Master, so he no longer wields a lightsaber. Ewan McGregor acted to hold it like Alex Guinness.

A Jedi's final lightsaber position is that of his own master Qui-Gon Jinn. As Sam Witwer notes, Darth Maul caused the death of Obi-Wan Kenobi's Grandmaster, and when Kenobi takes his familiar stance, the Sith go for a re-enactment. In short, he thinks Obi-Wan is just copying what Qui-Gon did back then The Phantom Menace and tries to respond accordingly.

However, Kenobi has had nearly two decades to ponder what killed his old master, and he does a great job against Maul's moves. His trickery made this such a short fight, as Maul got so close that his enemy could land an almost instant kill move. Despite Kenobi's deception and contrived movements, Sam Witwer believes that Darth Maul's death was caused by the fact that he underestimated his opponent.

According to the actor, the Sith sees his enemy as “a hopeless man hiding in the desert”, someone who is a “coward” and a “failed Jedi”. Wittwer claims that only in defeat does Maul realize that “this is a Jedi Master on active duty, and if he's that good, this must be the most important guard post in the galaxy.” He watches as Kenobi protects the Chosen One, and thanks to his hatred of Palpatine, he has an interesting take on that famous Jedi prophecy: “he will avenge us.”

Other than Ray Park and George Lucas, few people have as much insight as Sam Whittaker when it comes to the life and death of Darth Maul. His fascinating perspective on the character's final duel may not be enough to appease fans who think the fight is too short, but it certainly gave us a new way to look at one of our favorite Star Wars scenes. Between Witwer's words and the relatively high quality Ahsokaone thing's for sure: there's never been a better time to watch again Rebels and experience the best that a galaxy far, far away has to offer.