Solo: A Star Wars Story has more Star Wars in-jokes, references, and Easter eggs than any one fan could spot in a single viewing. But there`s one mega cameo that`s impossible to miss. We chatted with Solo`s writers, father and son team Lawrence and Jonathan Kasdan, about how a Star Wars character nobody saw coming made it into Solo.If you haven`t seen Solo: A Star Wars Story yet, stop reading now, because there are major spoilers ahead.Ready?Yup, that was Darth Maul who Qi`ra rang up right at the end of Solo, as she betrayed poor, naive Han one final time and took Dryden Vos`s place in the criminal organization. It turns out the fearsome leader of the massive crime syndicate Crimson Dawn was Darth Maul all along. Who would have guessed? We`re guessing no one, which made this a phenomenally shocking moment.So how exactly did Darth Maul, who hasn`t appeared in a Star Wars movie since 1999`s Episode I: The Phantom Menace, make it into Solo? And didn`t Maul get cut in half the last time we saw him? Shouldn`t Darth Maul be way too dead to be making cameos?The latter point is easy to address. Remember that Solo takes place ten years before the events of Episode IV: A New Hope. That puts it firmly after the prequel trilogy. But if you`ve watched either of the recent Star Wars animated series, you`re already aware that Darth Maul actually survived the fight with Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace and got his newly liberated upper body surgically situated onto a set of robotic legs. (Initially, Maul traipsed around with mechanical spider legs. They were later replaced by a less audacious, but still robotic and cool, bipedal bottom half.)So yes, Darth Maul is still alive. But the other big questions his appearance here raises are less easy to answer: How did Darth Maul wind up in Solo? And why? `Jon was a particular champion of Darth Maul,` said Lawrence Kasdan--who, in addition to writing Solo with his son Jonathan, served as co-writer on a prestigious list of movies tha ...
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