We've seen Maul suffer physical pain before — namely, when he got chopped in half in "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace." Here, however, "Maul — Shadow Lord" focuses on the lingering toll that this injury has taken on him and how it hinders his abilities. Indeed, throughout the show's first season,
Maul complains about his robotic legs, limps, and even has his henchmen fix his limbs. As supervising director Brad Rau explained to /Film, the series' creatives approached this notion as a recurring theme in the story.
"What happens if his leg is injured? He doesn't get surgery, he gets mechanical repair. So, we wanted to slowly show some of those weird vulnerabilities head on in the show," Rau noted. This comes to a head during
Maul's aforementioned battle with some Inquisitors, which he loses, big time. "His leg is extremely badly wounded, and the fear on his face, we wanted it to be genuine and real, like this is not going the way he wanted," Rau added.
It's an unprecedented moment of vulnerability for Maul. What's more, this franchise doesn't really do vulnerable villains in general (unless it's whiny Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren), so getting to see this onetime Sith Lord be truly humiliated is quite refreshing and fascinating. There's even a mix of anger and fear in Sam Witwer's performance, with Maul realizing he may very well die here after having already lost everything.
With its latest episodes, Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord depicts Maul in a way that we've never seen the former Sith lord before.
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