A little earlier this year, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story revealing that Obi-Wan Kenobi was once set to feature "Ben" Kenobi coming out of hiding to protect a young Luke Skywalker from a number of sinister foes. Among them was Darth Maul, and actor Ray Park was said to be deep into training to reprise that role when Lucasfilm decided to go back to the drawing board with the series.
Similarities to The Mandalorian were an understandable concern, while a rematch between Obi-Wan and Maul at this point in the timeline would have contradicted much of what we saw in Star Wars Rebels. It could have been made to fit, but seeing as Maul died at Ben's hands in that series, the conclusion of any battle they'd have had in Obi-Wan Kenobi may have underwhelmed casual fans.
Talking to Games Radar, Obi-Wan Kenobi director Deborah Chow addressed the rumours, and claimed Maul was never in their plans. "As long as I’ve been involved, we’ve never had Darth Maul in any of it," she confirms. "Dave [Filoni] did a beautiful job of telling that story already."
"For anybody trying to tell a story in the middle of these two trilogies, there were only certain elements that made sense in where [Obi-Wan] is," Chow continued. "With a lot of the legacy aspects, the decision to bring Vader into it was not made lightly. We’re 10 years after Revenge Of The Sith. Where is Obi-Wan’s starting place? What has been important to him in his life?"
"Anakin and Vader are a huge and very profound part of his life. We ended up feeling that he made sense in telling this story. And Vader casts such a dark shadow in this, that to have Maul as well, it might be a little bit much." That's a very valid point, though we certainly wouldn't have said no to seeing a battle between all three of these characters in the Disney+ series at some point!
Who knows, perhaps we will actually see Maul here and Lucasfilm is just going to great lengths to keep it quiet? We'll take Chow at her word for now, though, and just hope that The Phantom Menace villain does get another shot in live-action after that memorable cameo in Solo way back in 2018.
The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi arrive on Disney+ on May 27.