I don’t know about you, but I was expecting to see Jabba The Hutt make a surprise appearance in the film. And while he was teased, he never showed up. You know who did show up, though? Darth Maul! 

I completely flipped out over his appearance! It was a shocking revelation that I didn’t expect at all! However, I’m sure some Star Wars fans weren’t impressed. Regardless, I loved the setup and the possibility that we could see Darth Maul come back to the film franchise.

Darth Maul was the best part of The Phantom Menace, and I like how they brought the character back and continued his story arc in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. It’s funny, because they were teasing the characters return all along with the name “Crimson Dawn” which is most likely in reference to his red tattoos and lightsaber color. 

Prior to his appearance in Solo, Maul created his own criminal alliance called the Shadow Collective that included the Pyke Syndicate, the Hutt Clan, the Black Sun, and the Death Watch of Mandalore. There was even a point in the film where Dryden Vos explained that there was a fragile peace between Crimson Dawn and the Pyke Syndicate. This is a reference to the falling out that Maul had with the Pykes in comic book Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir.

It seems that after a series of other events, Maul ended up maintaining control over some aspects of the criminal underworld which led him to leading the crime syndicate called Crimson Dawn and now Qi’ra has been updated to one of his top lieutenants after the death of Dryden Vos.

One other thing I want to point out is that the Darth Maul used the Star Wars martial arts fighting style of Teras Kasi, which is what Qi’ra says Dryden Vos taught her. I imagine that maybe his training came from Maul. 

I have no idea how things could play out with Maul and Qi’ra in a Solo sequel, but I’m excited to find out! There’s plenty of untold stories that Lucasfilm could play with between where we pick up with Maul in Solo and his end in Star Wars Rebels. It’ll be fun to see how they end up utilizing him. I mean, they can’t make a big reveal like that a not expand on his role in the story further! 

What did you think about the big Maul reveal and how do you think his story arc will play out of the course of the Solo franchise?