Did Maul Originally Have a Bigger ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Presence?

Maul may have only appeared in one scene of Solo: A Star Wars Story, though some comments that actor Ray Park left on his Instagram page may have hinted that the villain initially had a larger role in the film.

Park seemingly replied to comments about his appearance as an older Maul in the finished film, as the character would have aged by a few decades since his last appearance in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. His physique was also shrouded in a cloak, preventing audiences from seeing that the performer was still in good shape, as evidenced in the photos above.

“I worked my butt off to play Maul in Solo even though I knew I had no action to do,” Park’s comment read. “For Solo I was getting a good 3-4 hours in of training with a serious hip injury.”

Viewers who have seen the film know that Maul did virtually nothing physically with his time on screen, making us wonder why he would have been training for multiple hours a day. It’s possible that the actor was merely preparing in anticipation that the production would ask him to do something slightly more physical, though even a three-hour training session would seem intense for the ways in which his cameo could have been embellished.

Another interesting detail in the comment is when Park notes, “The makeup had a different aged effect and purpose which I’m not going into.” It’s unclear if there were plans to depict Maul in other scenes or if Park didn’t feel like elaborating on his character’s journey between Phantom Menace and Solo.

Last week, Lucasfilm released concept art of Maul with his mechanical legs, which, in addition to Park claiming he trained multiple hours a day, makes us wonder if there was ever a plan to depict Maul in multiple scenes or if the actor and the studio merely wanted to prepare for things in the chance that director Ron Howard would want to use them.

Solo: A Star Wars Story hits Blu-ray and DVD on September 25th.

Do you think Maul may have originally had a larger part in the film? Let us know in the comments below or hit up @TheWolfman on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

[H/T Instagram, iamraypark]