By Ryan Rigley
During last week's Wizard World NYC, Ray Park (best known for his portrayal of Toad in "X-Men" and Snake Eyes in "G.I. Joe") sat down with MTV Geek and had a chat about reprising a certain role of his long forgotten. The role in question? Darth Maul, the sinister Sith Lord of "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace."
"Just give me food and water, and I'm there," Park jokes on whether or not he'd be willing to come back for J. J. Abrams' "Star Wars VII." The Scottish-born actor goes on to state that he'd like his character to return "with something a little bit spicy," i.e. not one but TWO double-bladed lightsabers. So what are the chances that Darth Maul would be resurrected for the new "Star Wars" trilogy? Click past the jump to find out!
Who?
A Dathomiri Nightbrother born on the planet Iridonia, the infant known as Maul was handed over to the nefarious Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, by his own mother at an early age. Sidious would go on to train Maul in the ways of the dark side of the Force, keeping his "secret apprentice" hidden in a training facility on the volcanic planet Mustafar. Maul would eventually become an integral part of the Order of the Sith Lords, acting as a Sith Assassin used only to take care of the jobs that no one else could.
As Palpatine's secret apprentice, Darth Maul was always technically considered a violation of the Rule of Two being that Sidious was, at the time, an apprentice himself to the Sith Lord known as Darth Plagueis. However, Plagueis was always fully aware of Darth Maul's existence and even supported his training. After all, Darth Maul played a very important role during the invasion of Naboo. That is, until he was chopped in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Why?
Fairly recently, Darth Maul was actually resurrected on the hit animated series "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" in which he is seen sporting a cybernetic set of legs. After his defeat in "Episode I," Maul is exiled to the trash planet Lotho Minor where he is later discovered by his brother, Savage Opress, and brought back to his homeworld Dathomir to be physically and psychologically rejuvenated.
How?
Clearly, Darth Maul has a score to settle with Obi-Wan for what the Jedi Master took away from him all those years ago. But with Obi-Wan long gone, who better to exact his vengeance upon than Obi-Wan's star pupil, Luke Skywalker? Granted, this is a long shot but if "The Clone Wars" could seamlessly merge the gap between "Episode I" and the "Star Wars" animated series then who's to say that A-list director J. J. Abrams can't do the same for "Star Wars VII"? The world is in dire need of a half-robot Darth Maul with two doubled-bladed lightsabers. Make it happen, Disney!
