Star Wars Voice Actor Sam Witwer Hints at Maul’s Original Role in Solo

There was a whole lot of surprise when Darth Maul appeared during the final act of Solo: A Star Wars Story. No one was expecting the former Sith Lord to appear in the Han Solo standalone movie – Maul had never been closely linked to the fan-favorite smuggler.

Now, an interview with Maul voice actor Sam Witwer reveals how Maul was supposed to play a much different in the Star Wars spinoff movie.

Speaking in an interview with SW Holocron to talk about his work in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, Witwer opens up about the role that he had to play as the voice of Maul in Solo.

"There was stuff that had to happen once I got hired," Witwer shared with the Star Wars fan site, "There was a reshoot that had to happen because people like me and (Clone Wars and Rebels creator) Dave Filoni were letting them know there were a lot of details that weren't consistent. That's not me saying these people didn't know what they were doing because they were making a movie and doing it at lightspeed. Ultimately, they did the right thing because they hired the people who were the experts on this like Dave Filoni and, I dare say, me, because I'm kind of an expert on what we've been doing with Maul for the past decade, y'know? They were very open to hearing what we had to say and, again, they were so open that they did a reshoot."

Though he doesn't speak much about the original role that Maul played in the Star Wars spinoff, the voice actor's comments seem to imply that Solo had originally focused on the former Sith Lord's ruthless nature instead of featuring the calm and strategic leader of the Crimson Dawn that he had gone on to become in Solo.

We wonder whether we'll ever get to see the beginnings of the Crimson Dawn version of Maul.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is streaming on Disney+.

Read: Star Wars: The Clone Wars Teases Ahsoka vs Darth Maul With The Phantom Apprentice First Look