One of the best things about Star Wars: The Phantom Menace was Sheev Palpatine's apprentice Darth Maul. The Sith Lord had a distinctly terrifying look complete with several horns and unusual face markings, and he proved to be a formidable opponent for Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
However, it looks like Maul was supposed to be much scarier when Episode I was still being developed. It has just been revealed that Star Wars creator George Lucas rejected the original design for Maul because it was simply too scary.
The Phantom Menace recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, and the people behind the 1999 film provided an oral history of how it was conceived. One of the people who shared some interesting details about the Star Wars flick was concept artist Iain McCaig, who created most of the design featured in the movie. McCaig is credited for coming up with Darth Maul's look. However, his first design for the Sith Lord was very different from what ended up in Episode I.
According to McCaig, the script for The Phantom Menace simply described Darth Maul as "a vision from your worst nightmare." The artist immediately took this as a cue to fashion Maul's look after his fears which was "that face that's peering in the window at you late at night, and it's barely alive."
As McCaig puts it, the facade would look "like a cross between a ghost and a serial killer staring in at you, and it's raining, and the rain is distorting the face." He decided to give the design red ribbons over the face then discreetly placed it inside a folder for George Lucas to look at. Interestingly, Lucas had a strong reaction to the design.
"George opened it up and went, 'Oh, my God,' slammed it shut, handed it back, and said, 'Give me your second worst nightmare,'" McCaig revealed. You can see the original Darth Maul design here.
It's a terrifying concept, and George Lucas made the right call by asking McCaig to redo his Darth Maul design. This time, the artist was inspired by his fear of clowns. McCaig drew himself as a clown wearing black and red face paint, and the rest was Star Wars history.
Although it is unlikely that Darth Maul will turn up in Star Wars Episode 9, the design for the Sith Lord has since inspired scarier looks for those who have joined the Dark Side.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will premiere on December 20.
