Star Wars: The Clone Wars Actor Praises Ray Park’s Work as Darth Maul

The sprawling nature of the Star Wars saga means that a number of actors have interpreted iconic roles for a variety of mediums, with actor Sam Witwer, who has voiced Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, recently taking to social media to praise the efforts of Ray Park, who played the live-action Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, for his work on the final season of The Clone Wars. Earlier seasons of the series used traditional animation methods to portray the character’s physical movements, with this last season seeing Lucasfilm use Park’s motion-capture performance to blend the two actors’ performances for a unique portrayal.

“Was just watching Phantom Menace and — Here’s a thought,” Witwer shared on Twitter. “Our Maul on Clone Wars was good. But it has been missing something… And it’s [Ray Park]. Cannot wait for everyone to see what he did for the upcoming episodes.”

Creator of Clone Wars and Rebels revealed these details at last year’s Star Wars Celebration.

“I wanted this fight to be big. I wanted this to be an epic lightsaber fight… This one had to be among the best, if not the best we did,” Filoni shared during a Clone Wars panel. “I went and, I know Ray Park, and I said, ‘Ray, wouldn’t it be great… why don’t we suit you up in mo-cap suit and be Darth Maul?’ So when you see Maul fighting, it’s going to be really Maul fighting… There’s just something unique about how Ray moves… It was a great moment having him perform it.”

Maul served as a formidable foe in Phantom Menace, leaving fans disappointed that he seemingly met his demise in the film’s climax. While the character’s revival for animated series surely excited fans, it was a surprise appearance in Solo: A Star Wars Story that really thrilled audiences, as his brief appearance made us believe we could see him in more live-action endeavors. Park reprised the on-screen presence of the character, while Witwer provided the voice.

“I have had fans come up to me over the years and they say things like, ‘Hey, do you think Maul will ever be in a movie and you’ll voice him?’ I would just say, ‘That’s adorable. That’s so sweet. No, of course not. That’s never going to happen, but so cute that you think that that would ever happen,’” Witwer previously explained to ComicBook.com back in 2018. “Or they’d say things like, ‘Do you think they’ll ever make The Clone Wars again?’ I’d be like, ‘Shh, you’re okay. Go to sleep.’ I would have this slightly, I hate to say it but, condescending thought of, ‘I know how the business works, and the fans don’t, but they have enthusiasm. It’s wonderful that they have this enthusiasm.’”

New episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars debut on Disney+ every Friday.

Are you looking forward to seeing Maul in the series? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!