Here’s How That Shocking Cameo Made It Into Solo: A Star Wars Story

Warning: This article contains spoilers for Solo: A Star Wars Story.

Adding in surprise cameos has always been a tradition of the Star Wars franchise. There was Tom Hardy and Gary Barlow in Star Wars: The Last Jedi. There was Joseph Gordon-Levitt. There was Daniel Craig as FN-1824 in The Force Awakens. There was Simon Pegg as Unkar Plutt in the very same film.

Solo: A Star Wars Story wasn't any different. Star Wars fans got to see Warwick Davis play his background character from The Phantom Menace, Weazel. They also got to see Jon Favreau voicing Beckett's (Woody Harrelson) lovable pilot, Rio. Bossk and Aurra Sing also got a few mentions in the film.

But one of the biggest appearances in the film was Darth Maul. Though the character made appearances in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, Maul's last big screen appearance was in Star Wars: Episode I– The Phantom Menace.

Though Solo writers Lawrence and Jon Kasdan left the big Crimson Dawn boss as an unnamed character in their script, the father-son writing duo really wanted Maul to be a part of the film.

"Jon was a particular champion of Darth Maul," legendary Star Wars screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan said in an interview with Geekspot. "We knew that Dryden was not the top of this ladder at all, and we wanted it to be someone really powerful. But Jon was the one who said, ‘It's got to be Darth Maul."

Luckily, Solo director Ron Howard was all in for the idea, and the director lobbied hard for Maul to be kept in the film.

Maul's appearance holds a lot of implications for the franchise. We can't wait to see more of the former Sith Lord in future Star Wars films.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is currently screening in cinemas.

Read: Tom Hanks Almost Appeared in Solo: A Star Wars Story