Darth Maul Returns in New Star Wars Rebels Clip

Darth Maul returns to the Star Wars universe once more in the season finale of Star Wars Rebels, but he’s a lot less “Darth” as the “Old Master.” In the clip above, that debuted on EW, Maul speaks of his brother, Savage Opress, his time as a Force-wielder, and why the Inquisitors and the Sith are his enemies now. It’s an insight into what’s happened to Maul since his time at the end of the Clone Wars, without giving too much away.

“The genesis of this idea is actually kind of an interesting one,” said EP and showrunner Dave Filoni. “I had pointed out several times in story meetings that we have an opportunity – if we wanted to – to actually have Darth Vader fight Darth Maul. That was something that [co-producer] Simon Kinberg and I were like, ‘Oooh…’ Then there was the opponent in the story meetings who would say, ‘Well, that’s fan service,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah –exactly.’ [Laughs] I don’t see the problem with that, but you know we were very careful that we don’t just do things because they’re cool. We want to do things that are story driven.”

While that brings Maul and Vader together in one episode, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have a one on one fight. “The Vader/Maul thing is interesting at a fandom level; the more compelling personal story becomes about Ahsoka and Vader,” Filoni explained.

The backstory of Maul, from the end of the Clone Wars to the point where he’s living on Malachor, has all been developed by Filoni and his team, but don’t expect to see it all in the hour-long finale. Filoni also “wrote a history of Malachor, and what goes on there a thousand years ago – which explains the stone figures, and the temple, and all the mechanism you see there.”

While Filoni wouldn’t reveal the full backstory, he did reveal that Maul was brought to this planet and its temple “as a small child” by Darth Sidious to try to get the holocron – which Ezra is seen opening in the broader Season 2 trailer.

So how far will Ezra go toward the dark side of the Force with this new/Old Master?

“This whole season has been about getting Ezra to kind of explore the dark side of the Force and be aware of its existence on a powerful level that maybe he didn’t understand before,” Filoni teased. “It’s really kind of an Empire Strikes Back movement for the series, where we bring the dark side out more to our heroes and challenge them with it. It’s going to get pretty crazy before the end here.”

Star Wars Rebels: “Twilight of the Apprentice” airs as a two-part season two finale on March 30 at 9pm on Disney XD.