A few years ago, a brilliant book was published. It was Paul Duncan’s ‘The Star Wars Archives: 1999 – 2005’. In it was a detailed journey that chronicled the era that came to define a generation, much the like originals had from 1977 – 1983.
One aspect that proved to be an added bonus and delicious revelation was that Lucas revealed, in a new interview to the author, some of the plans for his shelved vision of what his sequel trilogy would have looked like.
In his plans, one gets the feeling that there might not have been as much of a time jump as we got in The Force Awakens. The story would have picked up in a lawless time in the galaxy. Lucas would have centred the story on Leia in her attempt to rebuild the Republic whilst Luke’s story would have focused on his rebuilding of the Jedi.
A big revelation, however, came in the form of the story’s villain. Darth Maul would have returned to be the trilogy’s main antagonist and he would have had an apprentice to boot – Darth Talon. Maul would have been wrestling for control of the galaxy whilst emerging from the underworld and battling with other crime syndicates to fill the power vacuum that was left in the wake of the Emperor’s death.
Hmmm…interesting. This sounds a tad familiar.
Now, this couldn’t have happened because Maul meets his end at the hands of Ben Kenobi in their final confrontation on Tatootine in Star Wars Rebels. Well, if Lucas’ vision had been executed, the creative team at Rebels would have abandoned this story. It’s also possible, and a complete theory here, that maybe Maul was never intended to survive the events of Lucas’ VII or VIII and Darth Talon would have become the central villain.
Now, Darth Maul roaming the underworld and taking on a Force-sensitive apprentice. This sounds terribly…like I’ve heard about it? Or seen it advertised?
Maul: Shadow Lord seems to have this very story. And Maul and Crime Syndicates is a plot thread that had been set up in Solo: A Star Wars Story. So, not only will Maul: Shadow Lord hopefully pay off a story beat that was set up back in 2018 but it could also literally lift George’s original ideas off the page and bring them to the screen. Albeit it in animated form.
After all, these now legendary story treatments are sat in vault somewhere in Lucasfilm and will likely never see the light of the day. That’s not to say, however, that Dave Filoni isn’t skimming them from time to time and looking at what story sequences or character arcs he can bring back from the dead.
We’ve seen snippets of this already. The Book of Boba Fett showed us Luke’s initial attempts to rebuild the Jedi Order. Elsewhere, George’s story was set to be focused around the ‘grandchildren.’ This apparently confirming more than one. Perhaps Han and Leia had twins or Luke had a child. It’s difficult to see how Lucasfilm could do this with the only logical solution that there’s a twist down the line that Luke had a child that no one knew about he put said child/children into hiding.
So if Maul: Shadow Lord is successful, could it pave the way for a new animated show? Perhaps called Skywalker’s Jedi Academy.
Only time will tell but, in the meantime, we can but hope.
Maul: Shadow Lord arrives on Disney Plus on 6th April 2026.
