OBI-WAN KENOBI Director Deborah Chow Says Darth Maul Was Never Part of the Series

Not long ago a report surfaced saying that Darth Maul was originally set to appear in the Lucasfilm’s Obi-Wan Kenobi before Darth Vader was included. Well, it turns out that was never the case. According to series director Deborah Chow, Darth Maul was never a part of it. During an interview with Total Film, she said:

"As long as I’ve been involved, we’ve never had Darth Maul in any of it.Dave [Filoni] did a beautiful job of telling that story already."

As you know, Maul's story was brought to an end in Filoni's animated Star Wars series Rebels when he was defeated by Obi-Wan during the events of that story. In fact, Chow says that Maul was never really a part of any conversation. She explained:

"For anybody trying to tell a story in the middle of these two trilogies, there were only certain elements that made sense in where [Obi-Wan] is. With a lot of the legacy aspects, the decision to bring Vader into it was not made lightly. We’re 10 years after Revenge Of The Sith. Where is Obi-Wan’s starting place? What has been important to him in his life? Anakin and Vader are a huge and very profound part of his life. We ended up feeling that he made sense in telling this story. And Vader casts such a dark shadow in this, that to have Maul as well, it might be a little bit much."

Look, I’m just happy and excited that we are going to get to see Kenobi and Vader facing off again after all these years! It makes a lot more sense than using Darth Maul.

The story begins 10 years after the dramatic events of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith where Obi-Wan Kenobi faced his greatest defeat—the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as evil Sith Lord Darth Vader.

The series stars Ewan McGregor, reprising his role as the iconic Jedi Master, and also marks the return of Hayden Christensen in the role of Darth Vader. Joining the cast are Moses Ingram, Joel Edgerton, Bonnie Piesse, Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell, and Benny Safdie.

The first two episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi will premiere on Disney Plus on Friday, May 27, with subsequent episodes premiering on Wednesdays.