Darth Maul cut from Ob-Wan Kenobi? Huge changes reportedly revealed

It's been revealed that one of the most iconic Star Wars characters of all time has been cut from the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show.

Anyone who has seen the Star Wars prequels know that Darth Maul and Ob-Wan Kenobi have history. It was Kenobi who seemingly killed the villain in The Phantom Menace, after he had assassinated his master Qui-Gon Jinn, only for the character to be resurrected in the animated show Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.

He even makes a cameo in Solo and, at one point, he was thought to be the main villain for the Star Wars sequels, but that was before George Lucas sold up to Disney.

It made sense, then, that the character would appear in some form in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show but, according to recent rumors, that is not the case and the character has been dropped altogether.

Darth Mauled

This is according to The Hollywood Reporter which notes actor Ray Park - who played Darth Maul in the prequels - was said to be involved in the pre-production of the show but Maul was written out thanks to a "creative overhaul".

It is quoting multiple sources that believe Maul was written out and replaced with Darth Vader as the main antagonist. According to THR, this was to stop the show from being too similar to The Mandalorian as it was thought that the story would involve Obi-Wan protecting a young Luke Skywalker, much like the relationship between Mando and Grogu.

While Lucasfilm hasn't confirmed whether Ray Park was involved it has revealed that he never came to set to shoot scenes, so whatever was mooted never got out of pre-production stage.

This news comes after Indiewire reported that other changes to the show were to its tone as the original feel of Ob-Wan Kenobi was "too dark".

Speaking about the changes, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy said: “We’re looking, ultimately, to make a hopeful, uplifting story.

“It’s tricky when you’re starting with a character in the state that Obi-Wan would be in coming off of ‘Revenge of the Sith.’ That’s a pretty bleak period of time. You can’t just wave the magic wand with any writer and arrive at a story that necessarily reflects what you want to feel.”

Hossein Amini (Drive) originally wrote the scripts for the show but these were ultimately overhauled by Army Of The Dead's Joby Harold who worked closely with director Deborah Chow on the new story.

In any other studio, all of these changes may have people worried but Marvel and Star Wars are masters of the re-jig with many of their projects going through significant changes before they are released.

Obi-Wan Kenobi will debut on Disney Plus 25 May.

• These are the best Star Wars villains of all time (where Darth Vader is currently top and Darth Maul is in second place - just sayin').