Even if they’re not Star Wars’ best attribute, lightsaber duels are easily the most exciting and recognizable part of the franchise. When Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader ignited their energy blades in A New Hope, it set a precedent for every future Star Wars project. The last act of every film has to have some kind of a lightsaber showdown between the forces of good and evil. Fans know it, and whenever a new Star Wars movie comes out, they’re excited to see which heroes and villains will draw their lightsabers and fight for the fate of the galaxy.
Of course, Star Wars combat has come a long way since 1977. The other two films in the original trilogy improved their lightsaber duels, but they still emphasized emotional content. The prequels, on the other hand, might have overdone the acrobatics and let the emotional content lag. However, fans of the galaxy far, far away have gotten the best of both worlds in Star Wars animation. Unfortunately, the lightsaber fight with the most potential never got to happen.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels both tout a number of impressive duels. Ahsoka confronting Darth Vader in “Twilight of the Apprentice” and Darth Sidious defeating and capturing a Darksaber-wielding Darth Maul in “The Lawless” were two of the best, along with Obi-Wan's final fight with Darth Maul in "Twin Suns." However, many Star Wars fans would agree that Season 7 of The Clone Wars offered the best duel of the series.
The duel came in the episode titled, “The Phantom Apprentice,” and featured an impressive confrontation between Ahsoka Tano and Darth Maul. Those two impressive fighters weren’t the only draw behind the duel because the ramifications were also massive, as the events of Revenge of the Sith were fast approaching. This duel was different from most fights in the series, though. Ray Park (who played Maul in the prequel trilogy and Solo: A Star Wars Story) and stuntwoman Lauren Mary Kim made the fight scene using motion-capture technology. So, everything looked even more realistic than normal animation. In fact, some fans think that this duel wasn’t just the best duel in The Clone Wars -- but of the entire Star Wars franchise. While that sentiment may be true, fans who think that Maul vs. Ahsoka was the best fight likely don’t know about The Clone Wars fight that never happened.
In 2012, Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars when it bought Lucasfilm from George Lucas. One of the first things that Disney did was to immediately cancel The Clone Wars. Unfortunately, that meant that lots of planned and in-progress content was never completed or aired. Since then, Disney has tried to rectify the abrupt cancellation by producing Season 7 of the series, releasing information about unfinished story arcs (like the Cad Bane and Boba Fett duel) and filling a specific gap with the Son of Dathomir comic books. But that storyline only added to some fan complaints because it teased what could have been the best lightsaber fight in the series.
The comic showed how Darth Maul escaped from prison after his humiliating defeat at the hands of Darth Sidious. Yet, it was all part of Sidious’ plan to lure out Mother Talzin, and it was quite the plan. The conniving Sith let Maul capture Count Dooku (who could use a Disney+ series of his own), and Talzin possessed him for a while, in order to eventually manifest as her physical self. Then, Sidious and Grievous showed up to put an end to Maul’s shenanigans, which, led to a massive fight between the whole gaggle of Dark Siders.
It was a brutal type of fight that only Star Wars villains can have. There were lightsabers, Force lightning, witch-possession, and plenty of smack talk. It was entertaining in print, but just imagine what the five-way confrontation would have looked like on screen. The potential would have been truly unlimited because of the sheer amount of Dark Side power involved in the fight. To wit: fights between Dark Siders are especially fierce because a normal Sith apprentice is on par with a normal Jedi Knight. So, while Ahsoka vs. Maul was impressive, the fight depicted at the end of Son of Dathomir could have been so much more.
