It may be hard to recall now, but between the white-knuckle action of the tariff negotiation scenes, the hilarious antics of Jar Jar Binks, and the exhilaration the world felt when little Anakin Skywalker yelped his first “Yippee!,” The Phantom Menace included a character called Darth Maul. Some sort of bipedal red and black alien, he flitted around in the background while the true Star Wars-heads fidgeted in their seats, waiting impatiently for the next rip-roaring pod race to begin. Anyway, this Darth Maul fellow might be getting his own video game.
Game developer Red Fly Studio was at one time working on a stealth- and action-oriented game then known as Battle Of The Sith Lords, which would have put players in control of Darth Maul. It was abruptly canceled in 2011, however, as George Lucas prepared to sell Lucasfilm, LucasArts, and the Star Wars rights to Disney. The abortive project got some fresh media attention last year as Red Fly provided concept art and in-game footage that revealed aesthetics and Arkham-style gameplay mechanics that actually looked pretty decent:
With excitement continuing to rise for Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens, Red Fly’s Dan Borth took to a Reddit AMA recently to reveal that he and his team are currently trying to resurrect the Darth Maul game. In its new incarnation—Lucas evidently wanted it to take place 170 years after The Phantom Menace, somehow—the game would cover the young Darth Maul’s journey to the dark side. Red Fly, Borth said, is currently working on a “full next-gen demo of all things Maul to show to the powers that be,” and is asking people to tweet their support for the prospective game at Disney and Electronic Arts.