Darth Maul original voice actor Peter Serafinowicz returned for Solo but ended up being replaced
Peter Serafinowicz, Darth Maul voice actor in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, revealed to Collider Live that he recorded the character’s lines for Solo: A Star Wars Story. But Lucasfilm eventually chose to replace him by Sam Witwer, who had played Maul in the animated series The Clone Wars and Rebels.
According to Serafinowicz, this decision was taken for reasons of continuity.
13 Comments
Star Wars Hexalogy
I prefer to think the true reason were his dumb comments on Episode I.
jppiper
and he’s buddies with simon pegg
Cryogenic
Yep. He really is a dumbass. Good riddance.
Bob Jones
Sam Witwer is better anyway. It’s not about how many lines you have… it’s about what you do with them
Alexrd
Personally, I was never completely sold on Witwer’s performance as Maul (which was based on Serafinowicz). By comparison, he does a better Emperor.
Serafinowicz in my opinion has a better voice. Also, that iconic Maul-narrated teaser trailer of TPM is forever stuck in my mind.
If I cared about Solo, I wouldn’t be happy about this.
jppiper
yes he was great as the voice of maul but it doesn’t excuse his behavior complaining about cut lines and saying jar jar is a racist character f**k him
Alexrd
Oh, I don’t support his claims at all. That’s a separate issue.
At least this isn’t like Simon Pegg, someone who had no history with the franchise, but was invited to be part of it after years of disparaging and petulant remarks against Lucas.
Cryogenic
@ Alex:
Serafinowicz did provide the perfect voice for Maul. The beautiful irony is that it’s very divorced from the way Maul looks — cool, composed, restrained, refined.
And the actor’s own personality is clearly very removed again from that voice. Since we all know he called TPM the “most racist film of the twentieth century”.
That said, you’d think his overt trashing of a prequel film would be right up Disney’s alley, and that he would get the job for that alone.
I guess they like throwing curve balls now and again.
Alexrd
@Cryogenic
I think his vocal performance in TPM was in tune with the cool, composed, restrained and refined character of Darth Maul.
Serafinowicz’s actions and claims in real life are the opposite, sadly. And indeed, it’s strange that Disney discarded him, specially over “continuity”. They didn’t care about “continuity” when it came to Lucas’ stories for the sequel trilogy. It was meaningless to them.
Alexrd
@Cryo
Sorry, misread your comment regarding the “irony”. You meant visually. I agree.
jppiper
@cyro
the most racist film of the 20th century was birth of a nation peter what’s his name should do more research before opening his big fat mouth and spouting such bs he and terence stamp deserve one another
Slicer87
I never liked that Maul was brought back. He was killed in TPM, and bringing him back badly undermines the film and one of the few mistakes Lucas did. It is pretty clear Maul was resurrected as a marketing tie in between TCW and the 3D release of TPM. Time to put on the flame suit, lol.
jppiper
i blame the fans and their constant whining