Darth Maul’s First Jedi Kill

Anakin Skywalker’s role in Order 66 went far beyond the moment he marched on the Jedi Temple. Once he pledged himself to Palpatine, he became one of the central forces carrying out the destruction of the Jedi and helping the Empire take shape in a single night.  From the attack on the Temple to the …

Before Anakin Skywalker became one of the most important characters in Star Wars, George Lucas had a very different version of the story in mind. Long before the Skywalker name fully took shape, Lucas was still experimenting with characters, family roles, and the larger direction of the saga. One of the most surprising examples of …

Darth Maul’s surprise return at the end of Solo: A Star Wars Story is one of the movie’s most talked-about moments. But according to Sam Witwer, one major detail in that scene almost went in a very different direction: Maul’s lightsaber. Witwer spoke about it in interviews around April 2020 while promoting the final season …

The Geonosians were some of the most important allies the Separatists had during the Clone Wars. They built droids, weapons, and factories for the Confederacy, and Geonosis itself became one of the war’s most important worlds. But by the time the Empire had fully risen, the Geonosians were almost gone. That is what makes their …

As the audience, we can see the slow slide. Anakin is haunted by visions of losing Padmé, and that fear is the crack Palpatine uses to pull him into the dark side. But from the Jedi point of view, especially the two survivors who actually watched it happen, it’s a real question. Did Obi-Wan and …

“Strike me down and I’ll become more powerful than you can possibly imagine” is the last thing Obi-Wan says to Darth Vader during their duel on the Death Star in A New Hope. But here’s the question people still argue about. Did Obi-Wan vanish before Vader’s lightsaber even touched him, or did Vader actually strike …

Ever since Han Solo first flew the Millennium Falcon in A New Hope, the ship has been one of the most beloved vessels in all of Star Wars. It feels unique, beat-up, and full of personality, which makes it easy to think of it as a one-of-a-kind starship. But later stories reveal that Han did …

Darth Maul may be one of the most recognizable Sith in Star Wars, but not every secret about him is widely known. Beyond the double-bladed lightsaber and the duel on Naboo, later stories revealed a number of surprising details about his biology, his markings, and even the first Jedi he killed before The Phantom Menace. …

Ahsoka Tano never saw what happened to Anakin Skywalker on Coruscant. While he was saving Palpatine and beginning his fall to the dark side, she was on Mandalore surviving Order 66 and sensing his pain through the Force. Before she discovered the truth years later, what did Ahsoka believe had happened to her former master? …

In October 2020, George Lucas appeared alongside his wife, Mellody Hobson, as part of a Virtual Speaker Series for The East Harlem School at Exodus House. During the event, Lucas was asked by a seventh-grade student named Jeremiah how changes in the fight for racial justice might affect the Star Wars universe going forward. His …