About That Big Solo Reveal (SPOILERS)

LAST WARNING: MAJOR SPOILER TALK FOLLOWS

How 'bout them apples? Darth Freakin' Maul!

When Qi'ra opened up the hologram communicator in Dryden Vos's office, I assumed she was about to speak with Jabba the Hutt, which would be the big surprise reveal of the film. That certainly would have been awesome enough for most fans. Then the hologram spoke, and I guessed that it might be Thrawn. But why would Thrawn be on a throne with a hood? I quickly switched to The Emperor, but almost immediately dismissed it as being beneath him to be dealing with a thug, and so fell back to Thrawn. But the mystery guy pulled the hood back to reveal himself as Darth Maul. There was a huge gasp / groan / clap / cheer / cry from the audience. It was a lot to process. I was totally surprised, but sadly, my very first thought was, "this is going to immediately destroy this film for many fans right at this point." But then I had to scramble to realign my thoughts: Wait, when was this story taking place? What's happenning right now? And then I finally settled into the realization that this was already acceptable according to the current canon timeline. All was well.

As I stated in my review of Solo (and a few times elsewhere), when I first saw The Clone Wars episode where Darth Maul was discovered to be alive following his bisection at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi, it was a bit hard to take. But I managed to get over myself, and grew to appreciate the story arc that Dave Filoni had written for him. After all, this was a very particular bit of fan service. Most fans (or at least those that didn't outright dismiss the PT as drivel) will tell you that Darth Maul was foolishly wasted by Lucas and killed off prematurely in favor of the comic book-style "villain du jour" for each of the prequel films. I agree with this sentiment, at least in part. I would have actually preferred that Count Dooku be the central villain, with his story developing and unfolding over the course of 3 films. He could have grown in stature and power, while we uncovered the history of the "Lost Twenty", all the while ditching the Syfo-Dias nonsense. Nevertheless, Maul was most definitely an awesome character design, and the duel on Naboo was not only the highlight of The Phantom Menace, but quite possibly of the whole prequel trilogy. It was scored with "Duel of the Fates," arguably the most memorable piece of music from the trilogy, which was skillfully reprised in Solo at just the right moment.

After re-establishing himself as a player on the galactic scale in TCW, Maul was eventually defeated at the hands of Darth Sidious, who sought out his old apprentice just to put him out of his misery - or perhaps more accurately, put him to shame. Sidious spared Maul for some reason and he survived the events of the series, which at the time I assumed was basically because the show ended before the arc could be completed. There were some unproduced TCW episodes centered on Maul that were later converted to a comic book series, which, as I understand it, goes into how he was further used by Sidious to destroy the Witches of Dathomir, or something like that. (That Jimmy guy should probably get off his bum and do something to fill us in here.)

We then see Maul return in Filoni's Rebels, in which he is now seeking vengeance on both the Jedi (specifically Kenobi) and the Sith. At this point, he is officially just plain Maul, which coincidentally, is how he is listed in the Solo credits (as portrayed by Ray Park). After messing around with Ezra, Kanan, Ahsoka, Vader, and the Inquisitors, Maul tracks down Obi Wan. Their final duel on Tatooine is perhaps one of the best and most deftly handled storyline conclusions in the entire timeline. Here's the clip. Watch it. I SAID WATCH IT!



As shocking as it was to see Maul return from the dead in TCW, it was perhaps of monumental importance to the franchise that Maul was then brought onto the big screen again in a part of the timeline that is somewhere between the events in the two cartoon series. While cartoon characters have made very brief Easter egg-type cameos in the films (specifically Chopper for 4 frames and a distant intercom mention of Captain Syndulla in Rogue One), Maul's appearance takes this "crossover" approach to a whole 'nother level. If you didn't watch Rebels, then you would simply blink and miss the Chopper/Hera cameos in Rogue One, and would be no worse for the wear. Count me in that category, as I had not watched the show until several months after I saw Rogue One. It simply had no impact on me at the time. Which is fine. It didn't change the story for me one bit, and that's really what a typical Easter egg is: a hidden gem that is ostensibly irrelevant to the film.

Which brings me back to the audience reaction in my theater when I saw Solo on Thursday night. It was a strange mix. I was going through my own progression at the time, but afterwards, while discussing with my wife over our 10:00 pm dinner at a nearby restaurant (I assume Chris was asleep at that time so he could rest up for his 4:00 AM wood chopping expedition), it occurred to me that the reaction was more than just a split between fans thinking "Awesome!" or "Awful!", but there had to be plenty of people (maybe even a majority?) that never saw any of the Filoni cartoons, and only watched Star Wars on the big screen. If that's the case, Maul's appearance might actually have elicited a "What the hell is going on here? He's dead! How is this even possible? This makes no sense!" reaction. And of course, there might even be a few younger fans just getting into Star Wars, that don't even know who Darth Maul is. He was only in one movie that's almost 20 years old! TWENTY! So while knowledgable fans may be divided on the choice to not only resurrect Maul in the larger canon, but to double down by sticking him into a new film, casual fans were probably left either totally confused or just underwhelmed.

In Solo, Darth Maul is clearly in the midst of consolidating his wealth, power, and resources to make that Rebels run at vengeance against both the Jedi and the Sith. He is positioned as a kingpin of a huge crime syndicate, with many fearsome organizations falling under his thumb. This was the case in TCW, in which he lorded over his Shadow Collective, which we know included the Pyke Syndicate, Black Sun, The Hutt Cartel, and the Mandalorian Death Watch. When we are re-introduced to Maul in Solo, it appears Maul may have maintained this Shadow Collective, or at least some derivative thereof, and that he is at least in control of Qi'ra's Crimson Dawn, and probably several other organizations.



Maul's appearance marks a major shift in Disney's handling of the Star Wars franchise. Where does this go from here? So many possibilities. There are strong (as yet unconfirmed) rumors that not only might there be additional films planned which would comprise a Solo trilogy, but also both Obi-Wan and Boba Fett standalone films. It's now easy to foresee a Solo trilogy in which Maul is the overarching menace, directly or indirectly interacting with Han Solo himself, or maybe Han is just tagging along for the ride while Maul is pulling Qi'ra's strings. It could also be conceivable that Solo is the first film in an as-yet-to-be-announced Maul Trilogy, with Obi-Wan and Boba Fett being films 2 and 3, respectively. (Kind of like how M. Night Shyamalan did it when he retroactively made Unbreakable the first film of his superhero trilogy.) Solo is a smuggler associated with the underworld organizations working with, or competing against, Maul. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan is on Tatooine, where he would seem to be intimately familiar with the types of scum and villainy associated with a big crime syndicate (while Maul is simultaneously trying to locate him). And finally, Boba Fett could be that hired gun, trying to make his way in the galaxy as he makes a name for himself navigating (and defeating?) the Shadow Collective on behalf of Jabba the Hutt, and maybe looking for Solo and/or Kenobi all the while.

Disney may have turned a corner in Star Wars filmmaking. Rather than telling linear stories that are tightly connected, the Marvel Cinematic Universe uses a formula of creating loosely connected characters with their own stories, who meet up at certain critical points in the timeline, but otherwise have independent lives. That sounds a lot like what we just saw on board Qi'ra's new yacht. This may be a game changing moment that goes beyond the shock value of the reveal. It may open up a whole new path for Star Wars storytelling in the future.

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