George Lucas Wanted Darth Maul To Be the Villain of the ‘Star Wars’ Sequels
There’s a million ways to debate the plot directions of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Everyone has their own opinions on how each character’s story should have played out. Director and Star Wars visionary George Lucas, as it turns out, has his own opinions as well. In the new book The Star Wars Archives: Episodes I-III 1999-2005, Lucas shares his original intentions to make Darth Maul the central villain of the sequel trilogy.
A member of the Reddit community StarWarsLeaks shared an excerpt from the soon to be released book, detailing Lucas’ idea for the sequels. Essentially, Darth Maul takes on a young female apprentice named Darth Talon (who appears in the comic books). Darth Maul and Darth Talon become “the two main villains of the trilogy.” Over time, Maul’s power grows, eventually becoming “the godfather of crime in the universe.” Cool.
According to Lucas, Leia was also going to have a much larger role in the sequel trilogy. “The movies are about how Leia — I mean, who else is going to be the leader? —is trying to rebuild the Republic.” This is where Darth Maul’s crime syndicate comes in. "They still have the apparatus of the Republic but they have to get it under control from the gangsters." Luke would have also played more of an active role in the movies, single-handedly restarting the Jedi from scratch. Because so few Jedi would be left by this point, this process would have taken 20 years.
"By the end of the trilogy Luke would have rebuilt much of the Jedi, and we would have the renewal of the New Republic, with Leia, Senator Organa, becoming the Supreme Chancellor in charge of everything," Lucas explains. "So she ended up being the Chosen One."
Well, that’s one way it could have happened. Of course, the addition of Kylo Ren, Rey, Finn and Poe altered these plans significantly. While this new cast definitely played a part in reinvigorating the franchise, it’s still fun to wonder what it would have been like for Luke, Leia, and Darth Maul to have been the center of the Star Wars universe.
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