Obi-Wan Kenobi could bring back the prequels' best villain
Could an old rival be back for a live-action chance at revenge?
Star Wars is moving on up. Now that The Mandalorian Season 2 is over, speculation is beginning on the nine other new Star Wars series announced during Disney Investor's Day. One of the few series we know details about is Obi-Wan Kenobi, the series following the eponymous Jedi. Now speculation has begun in earnest, one very convincing theory suggests a fan-favorite villain will make (yet another) return to Star Wars canon.
The theory — Redditor u/AyanMan-3215 suggests the villain of Kenobi will be Maul. That's right, Maul, formerly Darth Maul, fresh from his appearance in The Clone Wars and Rebels. This may seem implausible, but it could be an interesting angle for a series that, at the moment, has no obvious plot.
The recent news that Hayden Christensen will reprise his role as Anakin Skywalker most likely means we'll see flashbacks of Obi-Wan's past as he deals with the guilt of leaving his padawan to die. However, it's unclear how Christensen could play Darth Vader in the show's present since he's already been de-limbed and burned to a crisp. A more pressing conflict could come in the form of Maul. And yes we've already seen Maul's final death at the hands of Obi-Wan in Rebels, but that was just two years before the events of A New Hope.
The epic duel between Kenobi and Maul in Rebels.
Kenobi will probably take place about a decade before A New Hope, so it could bridge the gap between the Revenge of the Sith/Clone Wars Obi-Wan/Maul rivalry and the Rebels Obi-Wan/Maul epic and tragic duel. This would make for Maul's fourth appearance after his apparent death in The Phantom Menace, as he's already appeared in The Clone Wars, Rebels, and Solo. Apparently, there's no such thing as too much Maul.
In Solo, Maul was revealed as the leader of the Crimson Dawn, a crime organization that flourished in the age of the Empire. This theory suggests something happened between Obi-Wan and the Crimson Dawn to reignite the thirst for revenge between Maul and Kenobi, leading to the revived hate in Rebels.
Darth Maul's surprise appearance in Solo.
The Inverse analysis — The biggest flaw in this theory is a simple one: When Maul finds out Obi-Wan is still alive in Rebels, he seems genuinely shocked and surprised. Of course, that could be a ruse to serve his plan, but it does seem like quite the inconsistency.
However, f this theory is true, it could be the resolution the Maul cameo in Solo was leading to. An appearance in Kenobi would retroactively make that big twist actually matter. It would also give Maul and Obi-Wan's final confrontation in Rebels even more powerful.
Obi-Wan Kenobi begins filming in March 2021.
