The Inside Story Behind Star Wars: Maul's Surprise Clone Wars Character Cameo [Exclusive]

This article contains spoilers for "Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord" Episode 8, "The Creeping Fear."

"Maul — Shadow Lord" has been a true gift for fans of "Star Wars." We've seen complex villains in the franchise before, like Vader, or Qimir in "The Acolyte," but nothing could prepare us for how this show portrays the titular Maul. What started as a character with a cool look and who gets chopped in half has grown to become one of the best and most powerful villains in "Star Wars." He's a complicated figure, one full of rightful anger at the Empire, but who still does horrible things and aims to become a crime boss.

This comes to a head in Episode 8, which sees the former Sith at his lowest point since he lost the lower half of his body at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Most of the episode sees Maul having visions of all the tragedies he's endured, and this is by far the most human we've seen this devil-looking former Sith. During the worst part of his visions, Maul gets flashes of his biggest loss. No, not his legs — his brother.

Yes, arguably the biggest surprise of "Maul — Shadow Lord" so far (aside from seeing Maul actually cry this episode) is the temporary return of "The Clone Wars" villain Savage Opress.

When /Film talked to "Shadow Lord" creator Matt Michnovetz before the show's release, he spoke about the importance of the past for Maul. "He takes his past with him, and it fuels him and drives him for this vengeance that he carries," Michnovetz explained. But it's not just the past that's important to Maul, it's also the future. "He also is now finally given the opportunity to be a master to an apprentice to further that goal, to further that means."

In case you need a refresher, we first meet Savage Opress in the third season of "The Clone Wars" as a Force-sensitive Dathomirian recruited as an apprentice to Count Dooku. After he found his long-lost brother, Maul, the two joined forces and created a criminal syndicate called the Shadow Collective. Though his role wasn't that big, Savage played an essential role in bringing back Maul and setting him on a path of tragedy and redemption.

But as important as Savage was to Maul, he didn't treat his brother very well. As voice actor Sam Witwer told /Film during an interview before the release of "Shadow Lord," Maul "kind of dominated him, and it isn't until after Savage's death that Maul recognizes the failure of that."

This is why Savage's return in vision form is so important to "Shadow Lord." It's not enough for Maul to remember his past in order to avenge it — he also needs to realize he cannot repeat his own past mistakes.

Episode 8 of "Shadow Lord" gives us a look at Maul's incredibly tragic childhood, wherein he's taken away from his family and turned into a monster by Darth Sidious. He was nothing but a weapon to his master, and it cost him everything. "My home. My family. My brother. All taken from me. Sidious, you did this to me," Maul says in the episode.

Finally, he comes face to face with a vision of himself as a young boy, and Maul breaks down. "I won't let him do this to anyone else," Maul tells his younger self as he processes his trauma and vows not to gain revenge, but to gain justice. In Maul's head, convincing Devon, a young Jedi on the run from the Empire, to become his apprentice is his only way of stopping Darth Sidious. There's only one problem, though.

The tragedy of Maul is that he's trapped in a cycle he doesn't seem capable of escaping. His master terrorized him and turned him into a monster. In turn, Maul treated his own brother like garbage — like a disposable weapon. Now, in order to stop what happened to him from happening to someone else, he needs to stop himself from carrying over Sidious' methods.

"He's realizing that he doesn't want to be the same type of master that he had. That the sins of the father are reflecting in his decisions and actions," Matt Michnovetz explained. "Hopefully he will learn from his mistakes. Maybe. Even in the smallest of choices."

Indeed, as Sam Witwer told us, Maul recognizes himself in Devon, reflected in the anger and frustrations she has. But it's not enough to recognize the potential in her as an apprentice, there's also a responsibility in that. "If he is going to feel like he wished he was treated better, then what's his responsibility in terms of how he treats Devon?" Witwer said. "What does he understand about what it is to protect someone else? And it'll be interesting to see what he does or does not understand. These are huge personal challenges for him, and he understands that, but he has no experience with this."

Unfortunately, we do know what's in Maul's future, and it's not great. We have the heartbreaking knowledge that Maul won't really grow from this, at least not for long. We know he goes on to repeat what was done to him on Ezra Bridger, we know he refuses to abandon his quest for revenge, and in the end, it leads to a rematch between Maul and Obi-Wan that results in the former Sith's death in "Rebels."