Who better to play that than Sam Witwer?
Not to mention that he plays sexy vampire (do they come any other way these days?)
Aidan onSyfysBeing Humanand portrayed the decidedly unsexy tank zombie that Rick kills in the pilot episode ofThe Walking Dead.
Lewis Jacobs/NBC
Can you do it?
And whenever someone asks you that, the only correct answer is Yes.
Then you wonderifyou can do it.
Lewis Jacobs/NBC
But you dont wonder if you could do it before you say yes.
You doubt your abilities after you agree to do it.
Because then the pressure sets in and you worry about getting it right.
The first thing I thought was, Darth Maul is back!
We all want that!
So Dave started explaining the story to me, and then I got excited.
Its very interesting psychologically.
Theyre so egotistical that some of them dont let go.
And what happens to Vader physically is what happens to Darth Maulmentally.
Getting cut in half has got to take a mental toll.
What is he thinking and feeling 10 years later?
I think everyone whos aStar Warsfan has talked about what would happen if he came back from the dead.
I know I did with my friends.
Ironically, some of the things that show up in these episodes are things that weve talked about.
Especially the psychological impact of having lost everything.
Therewasa plan, you know?
The Clone Wars were coming.
And now, the party has started without him.
There are motivations and talents and arrogance there you wouldnt have imagined.
You wont necessarily see all the layers of the character right away, it takes time to unravel.
You will see a lot more of him going forward than you would have expected.
NEXT PAGE:So youre saying his arc isnt going to be over after the season 4 finale?
So youre saying his arc isnt going to be over after the season 4 finale?
There are major consequences for Darth Maul being reintroduced to the Star Wars galaxy.
Okay, but you know what everyone wants to see is a rematch with Obi-Wan, right?
Everyone thinks they know what they want to see from Darth Maul.
So first, we thwarted your expectations by making Maul this spider creature.
We went in completely the opposite direction.
But then in Revenge we give you what you think you wanted all along.
From there, though, we go off in a direction that people would never have predicted.
Revenge doesnt become as important?
And some of that involves Asajj Ventress.
Youve seen her become a bounty hunter.
But Darth Maul would never become a bounty hunter.
Hes way too ambitious for that.
He was trained as a Sith Lord and thats what he wants to be.
Sure, Ventress was trained as a Sith but she really just wants validation.
She wanted a mentor figure to validate her.
And when that didnt work out she sets out on her own.
But the revenge that Maul wants starts out very straightforward Ill lock lightsabers with Obi-Wan Kenobi!
but then it becomes a lot more complicated.
Simple revenge isnt good enough.
NEXT PAGE:Mauls reintroduction last week was so much creepier than anybody could ever have imagined.
Hes literally turned into a giant spider-creature!
So thats why it was so important to nail the psychology here.
His physical appearance reflects his mental state.
He and Savage need some major family therapy.
And I thought it might be an opportunity to do a littleHeart of Darkness/Apocalypse Nowstuff.
I mean, Marlon Brando does some crazy stuff at the end of the movie.
And thats basically what we went for in the vocal booth.
Can we expect Maul to recite The Hollow Men in the near future?
The script was really well written, but it only said that Darth Maul was mumbling things.
It didnt saywhathe was saying.
How would he maintain his sanity and his health?
Hes not brave enough to acknowledge that resentment.
He definitely feels it.
But the Sith are fearful people.
If Darth Vader wasnt so fearful, it wouldnt have gone down like that.
Theyre all about themselves, all about accumulating power to protect themselves.
Everyones always out to get them, everyones always limiting them and they want to break through their limitations.
Maul, as voiced by Peter Serafinowicz inThe Phantom Menace, has three lines.
What kind of research did you do to prepare?
Well, I certainly watchedPhantom Menace.
I agree with Dave on that.
Like how we included the Sith Code among Mauls ramblings.
Its what goes on in here thats hard.
And thats a line that the Son has the Mortis trilogy.
Its when the Son is masquerading as that creepy little gnome who frees Ahsoka from her imprisonment.
He actually says, The chains…the chains are the easy part.
Its what goes on in here (points to his head) thats the easy part.
You see a real connection between Maul and the Son?
I drew a lot from the Son.
He needed to have pieces of that character.
The arrogance of Darth Maul is really from the Son.
They have a very similar, arrogant nature about them.
Dont dare bring this character back unless you learn more about him than you could have possibly imagined.
Yeah, there is.
When we didForce Unleashedwe totally made that connection.
In a weird way we did a story about how Darth Maul was trained.
So when Starkiller talks to Darth Vader, he should sound just a little bit like Darth Maul.
So what we should take away from all this is that Mauls story could go anywhere?
And it does, my friend, I promise you.
Have more burning questions for Sam?
Ask him yourself tonight during our live chat!
