‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’: Let’s Talk About The Movie’s Surprise, WTF? Cameo & How It Connects To Deeper Canon

*Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers.* Do not read this piece until you’ve seen “Solo: A Star Wars Story.”

“Solo: A Star Wars Story” is in theaters and as you’ve heard by now, the Lucasfilm prequel spin-off greatly underwhelmed at the box office and collapsed overseas. Its 4-day worldwide gross of $148 million was even less than just the domestic opening numbers of “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” ($155M). Its long-term prospects overall may have already sunk: you’re looking at a movie that very possibly makes half or less the money that ‘Rogue One’ made both internationally and domestically. So, the future isn’t looking bright for a sequel which makes its much-talked-about secret cameo all the more confusing.

READ MORE: ‘Solo: A Star Wars’ Screenwriters Discuss Why They Included The Shocking [Spoiler] Cameo

We’ve detailed the (rather vague) reasons why screenwriters Lawrence and Jon Kasdan included him in the film—honestly, it reads a lot like because “he’s cool and because we could”— but it’s time to talk about Darth Maul, even if we never receive a ‘Solo’ follow-up film (Ron Howard voice: we won’t).

Yes, it’s Darth Maul (played by Ray Park again and voiced by Sam Witwer from the animated series; original voice actor Peter Serafinowicz, is out) who appears, with robotic legs for his lower half, rather confusingly and at the end of “Solo: A Star Wars Story” and one can argue both knowledgeable and blissfully ignorant fans of deeper “Star Wars” cannon were left scratching their heads. It’s a ta-daa! like moment where Maul is revealed to be the mastermind behind the entire MacGuffin plot but lands a bit like a “huh, WTF?”

For those that only know the movies, yes, the appearance of the Sith apprentice is baffling considering the character supposedly died at the end of “Phantom Menace”— Ron Howard voice: He didn’t — sliced in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) for killing his master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson).

READ MORE: ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Crashes At The Box Office; Barely Hits $100 Million With 4-Day Figures

Fans of the animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” and “Star Wars Rebels,” the comics and the books know that Maul survived and is very much alive, but even for those versed in that canon, the cameo feels a little like fan service and wink more than anything else. As I’ve suggested in our ‘Solo’ review and our spoiler-y podcast talk, the Maul cameo is likely just going to frustrate, confuse and leave audiences left with the kind of questions that perplex rather than tantalize.

In short, Maul’s cameo is poorly written; a set-up with very likely little to no satisfying payoff and that’s a problem. The movie is about Han Solo becoming Han Solo and Darth Maul has absolutely nothing to do with that, therefore it’s nothing but a superfluous appendage. Perhaps as a post-credit sequence, this may have worked a little bit better, but as crafted here, as part of the plot, framed as a big reveal that inherently has nothing to do with the true story, it’s just convoluting.

Regardless, he’s back—now known as just Maul, dropping the Darth part—and more importantly, has reentered the movies. In keeping with the theme that everyone serves someone in ‘Solo’ and as said in “Phantom Menace,” there’s “always a bigger fish,” Maul is revealed to be the man behind the curtain and more specifically, the man behind new, flourishing crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. The movie’s villain, Dryden Vos (Paul Bettany), answers to Maul, but the audience doesn’t discover this until the conclusion of the narrative. When Vos is killed, it’s Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke), Solo’s ex-girlfriend in the film turned mercenary, who’s now beholden to Maul at the end of the movie and informs him that her former boss is dead, and they’ve lost the coveted shipment of stolen coaxium (hyperfuel) that drives the plot of ‘Solo.’ Vexed, Maul fetches for Qi’ra and she must take Vos’ yacht-like fortress spaceship back to the planet Dathomir where he resides.

LISTEN: ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’: Spoilers, Easter Eggs, Box Office, And More! [Podcast]

Where does ‘Solo’ and the Maul storyline go from there? Given the box office numbers, probably nowhere, but even if ‘Solo’ made $1 billion worldwide, I’d argue the Maul character doesn’t really belong in the Han Solo origin adventures stories and the only real reason the screenwriters included him in the movie is that they found a window of time in the “Star Wars” timeline where his whereabouts are unaccounted for so they could shoehorn him in as an Easter Egg (and they’ve suggested as much already).

But Maul’s “resurrection,” is a little bit dumb, to be honest. Maul never died. Despite being chopped in half, he survived his wounds. The story is long, convoluted and often breaks suspension of disbelief, even for a “Star Wars” movie, but the short version of his survival is something like this:

READ MORE: ‘Solo’: Ron Howard & Lucasfilm Craft A Safe, Fan Service-y, But (Semi) Entertaining ‘Star Wars’ Adventure [Review]

*New Spoilers*: Here’s where we get into Darth Maul’s story post-“Phantom Menace”

Using his force powers, Maul was able to save himself from falling to the bottom of the reactor shaft on Naboo where everyone presumed he perished. Finding his way to a trash container, his shattered body was left for dead on the junkyard world of Lotho Minor. Eventually, he would create a spider-like leg apparatus that allowed him to walk.

But Maul’s story, the entirety of his existence—and this is where the ‘Solo’ appearance seems forced—is all about Obi-Wan Kenobi and revenge on his former masters. In these ensuing years— ‘Solo’ takes place approximately two decades after “Phantom Menace” and about 10-12 years before “Star Wars: A New Hope”— Maul’s raison d’etre is seething vengeance against Obi-Wan for crippling him and the Sith for abandoning him. Forgotten, Maul rejects the Sith (hence dropping the “Darth” part of his moniker) and lived for years in agony trapped on Lothar Minor consumed with rage and ideas of avengement. Seriously aggrieved and bitter, Maul’s lust for retribution doesn’t just stop there, eventually he goes after his former master The Emperor/Darth Sidious (Senator Palpatine) and even battles against General Grievous, the cyborg General audiences first saw in “Revenge Of The Sith” (but appears in many “The Clone Wars” episodes, comics, and books, etc.).

There’s so much more to Maul’s story and the early parts connect to the animated series, “The Clone Wars” set between “Attack Of The Clones” and “Revenge Of The Sith.” The shortest version of this slice of that story: he’s rescued by his brother, (the poorly named) Savage Opress, eventually affixed with better, more mobile and humanoid-like legs, and a decade later, seeks out and attacks Obi-Wan Kenobi again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufGInoX0mzw

Some key in-between moments: How Maul most organically (and believably) fits into the Solo story is through the Shadow Collective, a criminal alliance he founded during “The Clone Wars” series (a group part of the collective called The Pyke Syndicate are seen in ‘Solo’ on the planet Kessel for those in search of more Easter Eggs). After the Shadow Collective is defeated by separatists, sometime later, Maul goes on to form Crimson Dawn which catches the timeline up to the end of “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” There’s a whole other story with Maul’s mother, a Force-sensitive Witch, that we won’t even go it too, it’s too much of a sidetrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JtzW4L1fKY