Star Wars veteran Ray Park was supposed to play Darth Maul as Obi-Wan Kenobi, but his scenes were cut from the Disney+ show.
It turns out that Disney+’s Obi-Wan Kenobi nearly featured fan-favorite Star Wars villain Darth Maul until his scenes were cut.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor Ray Park was reportedly involved in pre-production and stunt training before he was released from Kenobi to make room for Darth Vader and the Grand Inquisitor. Conflicting sources say the footage was filmed, but it may have only been trial footage.
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Maul made his debut in the 1999 film The Phantom Menace, where he played Puck and was voiced by Peter Serafinowicz. The character is a Zabrak from Dathomir, who was kidnapped by Darth Sidious as a child and became his first Sith apprentice. He was apparently killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi in Episode I, but it was revealed in The Clone Wars (where he was voiced by Sam Witwer) that he used the dark side to save himself. It was also established that he forfeited the title of “Darth” and abandoned the Sith after realizing that he was just a pawn of Sidious. Instead, Maul became a ruthless crime boss.
Maul was heavily involved in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, in the latter of which he faced off again with Obi-Wan, who died in a lightsaber duel. However, his last live-action appearance was in Solo, which ended with him summoning Kira to Dathomir, leaving his fate between that and the Rebels unclear.
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It’s worth noting that in February 2021 – months before Obi-Wan Kenobi was due to begin filming – Park teased Maul’s return by sharing a photo of a prosthetic head that gives Maul his signature horns.
As for Kenobi, it’s no secret that the production of Star Wars went through a creative shuffle that put production on hold and writer Hossein Amini was replaced by Joby Harold. McGregor downplayed production issues in January 2020, saying “The scripts are excellent and they just want them to be better so we just pushed them back. It would seem that on the Internet it is very dramatic. There is all sorts of crap about it on the Internet. but it’s just moved back a bit, but we’re still filming it, it’s still going to be aired when it should have been, and I’m very excited about that. It will be fun to play again.”
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres May 25 on Disney+.
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Source: The Hollywood Reporter.
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John Arvedon (3198 articles published)
John Arvedon has been CBR’s lead news editor since starting freelance writing in 2017. Prior to joining the publication, he built his portfolio by reviewing comics for several well-known sites, as Marvel and DC heroes have always been his passion. his. In fact, his love of superheroes is rivaled only by his love of Star Wars and weightlifting. If you’re so inclined, you can follow John on Twitter at @JonArvedon.
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