Despite the mixed feelings that have come to dominate cultural memory of Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace, fans tend to agree that the character of Darth Maul is a film and series highlight. The enigmatic Sith Lord, originally thought dead at the end of The Phantom Menace, has since returned several times throughout subsequent Star Wars novels, films and animated series. Most recently, Maul participated in one of the more memorable lightsaber battles in Star Wars Rebels - one that fans will likely be discussing and/or debating for a long time to come.

It turns out that Maul's earlier animated TV show appearance in Star Wars: Clone Wars, was originally meant to include more scenes and story points following the character further on his journey; some of which were later incorporated into graphic novel format, but much of which still went unfinished. Darth Maul voice actor Sam Witwer has now shared a fuller picture of what was meant to happen with Maul, during his time on the Clone Wars animated TV series.

Witwer made the reveal during a conversation with Mike Pilot on the Full of Sith podcast. The exchange (which begins around 13:00 into the discussion) lays out the odd path Maul has taken (and not taken) in the intervening years:

Sam Witwer: "What was so surprising about what George [Lucas] brought to the table [in The Clone Wars] was that he just kept not killing this guy. And then, and then I get a call from Dave Filoni saying 'Hey, um, Maul is going to survive The Clone Wars' what? Are you kidding me? I don't get it. But then we never got to do the episodes that show him escape the fate of the Clone Wars."

Mike Pilot: "Now, those were the comics that eventually- right?"

Sam Witwer: "Well, that was Son of Dathomir, yes, but then there was more beyond that, that uh, that I didn't learn about until we started working on Rebels, then Dave [Filoni] sat me and Ashley [Eckstein] down and briefed us on what happened at the end of The Clone Wars both to her character [Ahsoka Tano] and to my character and how we met..."

Even now, it's doubtful that fans will stop wanting to see more of Darth Maul and his iconic double-bladed lightsaber, even now that the Rebels episode 'Twin Suns' has (seemingly) brought his story to a conclusion. While no further plans for the character have yet been set in motion, Maul remains one of the most-requested figures to potentially show up in the new Star Wars Stories spin-off movies; and it feels especially unlikely that Disney or Lucasfilm would let that kind of demand go unanswered for too long.

NEXT: Darth Maul's 'Chosen One' Explained

Star Wars Rebels season 3 concludes next week with its finale ‘Zero Hour’ @8:30 pm on Disney XD.

Source: Full of Sith