The Siege of Mandalore Is Going To Feel Like a Movie, According to Sam Witwer, The Voice of Maul on ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is barreling toward its finale. Episode 9, “Old Friends Not Forgotten,” was truly a gift for fans. They couldn’t get over how good the action was and how Ahsoka’s reunions played out. The final moments showed Ahsoka come face-to-face with Maul for the first time in her life; although fans have already seen them face-off years later in Star Wars Rebels. Now the voice of Maul, Sam Witwer, shared more about the final moments of the series.
This finale arc, the Siege of Mandalore, is going to feel like a live-action ‘Star Wars’ movie
In an interview with Star Wars Holocron, Witwer said that the recent work Dave Filoni, executive producer and supervising director, did on The Mandalorian paid off with this final season of The Clone Wars.
“Funny enough, Dave Filoni’s live-action experience definitely played into this final arc, because this final arc is more of a film read in terms of the vocal stuff that I was doing,” Witwer explained.
Witwer goes on to explain that certain aspects of this season were already done or written, like the Bad Batch arc at the very beginning of Season 7. There was a lot of fine-tuning with animation, and more so with the second arc, but otherwise, they were kind of thought up ahead of time. However, this final arc is really where the brand-new version of The Clone Wars found its footing, according to Witwer.
In addition to the pacing, production, acting, and score, Witwer truly couldn’t get over how good this arc is. “When I say it’s the best Clone Wars, I mean this is the most modern statement of what The Clone Wars crew is capable of.”
Witwer explained that Maul is changed, and fans will enjoy guessing as to why that is
There’s a massive arc that happens for Maul in between his last appearance in Season 5 and now. Darth Sidious found out Maul was training his brother Savage Opress as a Sith apprentice and put a stop to it. The Son of Dathomir storyline then takes place where Palpatine holds Maul hostage. While that can’t be brought to the screen just yet, the written media on it is fantastic. Plus, it is canon, so fans can have that in the back of their heads while watching Maul in Season 7.
Without giving too much away from that arc and what Maul’s gone through, Witwer does say that Maul is different when Ahsoka encounters him on Mandalore.
“There’s an anxiety that this character has in the Siege of Mandalore that we’ve never really seen from him before, so you have Maul at the height of his power, but also working some things out and trying some new things that, frankly, he may not be very good at,” Witwer said. The press release for this coming episode states that Maul “senses the impending chaos and makes a calculated play to ensure his own survival.” That can only mean that he knows Order 66 is about to go down.
“I really can’t wait to see how the fans react and see what their interpretation of that is going to be because there’s plenty to interpret,” Witwer said. “There’s plenty of fan debate that I think may come in terms of what Maul’s intentions are in this next arc…One of the things I’ve learned from Dave and George is that you really do, as much as you can, need to let the fans interpret things.”
The Siege of Mandalore, and ‘The Clone Wars,’ is the final aspect of ‘Star Wars’ that was directly George Lucas’ vision
Lastly, this is truly Lucas’ final influence on Star Wars. The Clone Wars was his project he started in 2008 and was a creative lead throughout, even after the reigns were fully passed to Dave Filoni. Lucas also handpicked Filoni to carry on this story, and the trust was obviously put in the right place. Witwer really wants Lucas to like this final arc.
“This show has such a special place in George’s heart,” Witwer said. “He was so happy when he was making this show, and we were so happy to be implementing it for him…you really did just get a directive from George, and that directive got discussed and translated by Dave Filoni, and then it went right to the actors, animators, lighters, everything. It just got done.”
Witwer explained that’s why it’s so “fun” to watch the Siege of Mandalore. “It just feels pure in its intention,” he said.
“It’s so cool that this is the last George Lucas produced Star Wars. The last Star Wars that has George’s fingerprints on it… And I’m happy to hear that he likes how Clone Wars is going so far this season and I really hope he likes our finale because that’s where it all counts.”
