Update: Since publication Lucasfilms Pablo Hidalgo has published on his social media about the story:
“A brown sun has risen. Bulls**t has been spilled.”
We will take that as clear an indicator that there is nothing to this story. Which as we reported earlier, THR’s own Lucasfilm contact has debunked to them. Very odd indeed.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
The Hollywood Reporter has published an article looking at the evolution of the Obi-Wan Kenobi Disney+ show, from it’s initial paused production of the Hossein Amini scripts, to the final product we will see from Joby Harold – including removing Darth Maul, and replacing Luke Skywalker.
Sources note that Filoni and Favreau were concerned about Obi-Wan covering similar ground as Mandalorian — the Lone Wolf and Cub-like story of Kenobi coming out of hiding to protect a child-aged Luke Skywalker. Maul was one of the villains who would participate in the hunt for the pair; Vader was nowhere to be found in this faraway galaxy at this stage, according to those with knowledge of the project. Also, Filoni and Favreau pushed Chow and the show to “go bigger,” according to several sources. In any case, those concerns made their way to Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy, who pressed the pause button.
It is unclear how far along in the process things initially unraveled. A boy was chosen to play young Skywalker, but no scenes with him were shot. As far as Park’s Maul goes, the picture is more cloudy. One source says Park was on set for preproduction and was also involved in stunt training. The source says footage of Park may have been shot, although another source says it could have been test footage. Whatever the case, Park was back as Maul, or so he believed.
In the overhaul, however, Maul was written out. One source says it was Filoni that conceptually keyed in on a way for Vader to be brought back as the big bad, with the Grand Inquisitor, a character made popular by Filoni in the animated series Star Wars Rebels, also put into the story.
It is worth noting that The Hollywood Reporter also acknowledge in the same article that their Lucasfilm contact denied that Maul was ever part of the show.
