Star Wars screenwriter defends Darth Maul’s cameo

Solo: A Star Wars Story co-writer Jonathan Kasdan defends the film’s controversial cameo starring prequel trilogy character Darth Maul.

During a long Twitter session to mark the digital release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, co-writer Jonathan Kasdan defended the controversial film cameo of prequel trilogy character Darth Maul. Bad buzz plagued Solo early on, in large part thanks to the sacking of original directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller. When the movie came out earlier this year, audiences were mostly lukewarm and a lot of Star wars fans reacted with outright anger to some developments in the long-awaited standalone adventure.

Of the film’s many controversial moves, none perhaps created more outrage than a certain late cameo from a character from the previous trilogy. After the many twists and turns of the story, which left Han Solo’s childhood sweetheart, Qi’ra, in charge of the late Dryden Vos track of the Crimson Dawn Criminal Empire, we learned that Qi’ra she – even now responded to the superior powers of the union. Through a holographic message sent to Vos’s old office, we discovered that Qi’ra’s new boss was in fact none other than Darth Maul, the Sith Lord defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Decisive Battle. at the end of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.

Related: Star Wars: A Complete Darth Maul Story

Maul’s appearance in the film, apparently tackled in order to wedge the character in the film, was immediately criticized by fans accusing the film of engaging in a fan service stunt. Now screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan took to social media to advocate for Maul’s inclusion, arguing that Maul’s cameo was far from a stunt and was in fact foreshadowed throughout the film. During a lengthy recap posted on Twitter, Kasdan gave his take on the cameo, comparing Maul’s appearance to the final shocking reveal at the end of The usual suspects:

If you felt like it was just a cheap stunt I guess that’s fair, but the truth is, Maul has been incorporated into the design of Solo in a number of subtle ways, including the name Crimson. Dawn, Artifacts from Dryden’s Study and Teras Kasi’s Qi’ra Use. Maul is my favorite character from the previous trilogy. I love that Dave Filoni brought him back and expanded his story in Clone Wars and Rebels. I like that there is at least some continuity between the series and the movies. For me, Maul was meant to go through Solo as the ultimate SW Keyser Soze.

As Kasdan points out, Maul has a greater place in Star wars canon than its mere appearance in phantom menace, having returned from the dead with robot legs to engage in other evil deeds in the series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Indeed, Maul even had a rematch with Obi-Wan on Rebels. Solo’s revelation that Maul was now the head of a criminal organization made sense given his larger role in the Star wars universe. Of course, using Maul for a shocking last-minute appearance also helped to reverse fans’ expectations, as most believed it would be Jabba the Hutt who would show up (Jabba is ultimately only indirectly referenced in the movie).

Arguably, however, it wasn’t the mere inclusion of Maul that was the problem, it was the way the scene was performed. Maul suddenly appears in a hologram, which is not a big deal in the Star wars universe, except that this hologram breaks with tradition by being all in color. Why the color hologram? It looks like the decision was made just so Maul could pull out his famous red double-bladed lightsaber for a moment of fan service. But for many people, Maul’s appearance aroused neither fear nor excitement, but laughter.

But according to Kasdan, the Maul cameo was more than just a service fan stunt, it was an attempt to create continuity with others. Star wars properties and an opportunity to include a character for whom Kasdan himself has a special affection. Blow or not, the sudden and undoubtedly incongruous appearance of Maul in Solo: A Star Wars Story will continue to be one of the most discussed – and ridiculed – moments in the film.

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Source: Jonathan Kasdan / Twitter

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