Mark Hamill has revealed his thoughts about Darth Maul's short stint in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Though Hamill never starred alongside Ray Park's demon-faced Sith Lord (due to the fact that Luke Skywalker wasn't yet born in the prequel movies), the veteran actor has a lot of appreciation for the villain, and thinks that his time in the movies was cut short.

The Star Wars franchise is known for coming up with some of the most iconic characters and species in cinematic history. The saga has also spawned some pretty nifty villains spearheaded by the most menacing one of them all, Darth Vader. But there are other antagonists over the years that also had the potential to be a Vader-caliber character, and Darth Maul was one of them. The Dathomirian had the looks and weaponry (with his double-edged light saber) but he wasn't developed enough to his full potential. And just like every die-hard fan of the movie series, Hamill was also in shock on his rather very early exit in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.

Talking to reporters, including Polygon, at this year's D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, Star Wars legend Hamill has candidly shared his thought on Maul and his very short stint in the prequel trilogy:

“Darth Maul was just the coolest looking. I couldn’t believe they disposed of him so quickly. I thought he would last through all three movies!”

In The Phantom Menace's narrative, Maul was also overshadowed by Darth Vader - then called Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) - prompting the Sith Lord Darth Sidious to cast him aside for a brand new mentee. While the older Skywalker slowly amassed power in the political spectrum of the Galactic Empire, Maul was relegated to being a nobody following his 2-on-1 duel with Qui Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and a young Obi Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) which ended being almost killed by the latter. In the next two films in the trilogy, Maul was believed to be dead and was never seen on the big screen again.

Fortunately, Star Wars animated series showrunner Dave Filoni saw the wasted potential of Maul and concocted a way to bring him back to life via the TV series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars - though not without the physical and psychological burdens of his past. His story arc with Kenobi continued until he once again re-emerged in the previously wrapped-up season of Disney XD's Star Wars Rebels. In the penultimate episode, 'Twin Suns,' Maul's journey has finally come to an end in Tatooine, in the hands of his arch-enemy, with the reveal that he was also somehow rooting for Luke to defeat Sidious and his cohorts sometime in the future.

While it is safe to say that we won't be seeing Maul in anything major moving forward, fans can take comfort with the fact that he was given a proper send-off with his Star Wars journey coming full-circle in his final battle with Obi-Wan. Meanwhile, Hamill's Luke will have to face a different villain in his own nephew Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), when Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi hits theaters later this year.

Source: Polygon

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