Star Wars: Why The Original Darth Maul Terrified George Lucas In Real Life

When "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace" first hit theaters in 1999, fans were fairly mixed on how George Lucas decided to continue his beloved space opera franchise. But there was one aspect of the prequel that just about everyone could agree on: Darth Maul. Played by Ray Park in the film, the villain's devilish appearance — complete with red skin, black tattoos, and horns protruding from the top of his head — struck audiences immediately, with the character quickly becoming a fan favorite. There might not be a more menacing looking figure in the whole franchise.

But according to concept artist Iain McCaig, Maul's appearance was almost quite different. After first trying to "out helmet" Darth Vader, reportedly spending years on breaking the design, McCaig gave up on that concept when he recognized that the original Sith Lord's appearance was "perfect." Instead, he took cues from the way Darth Maul was described in Lucas's official script: "a vision from your worst nightmare." "That was all I needed, because that's a very clear direction, and I know my worst nightmares," McCaig explained to StarWars.com. Described as "a cross between a ghost and a serial killer," McCaig drew Maul as the creature he most feared, and it spooked Lucas almost beyond words.

"George opened it up and went, 'Oh, my God,' slammed it shut, handed it back, and said, 'Give me your second worst nightmare,'" recalled McCaig, and that was exactly what he did. McCaig's second design for Darth Maul gave the character his signature facial appearance, and while he had yet to introduce the iconic black robes or the double-bladed lightsaber, Lucasfilm was well on its way to realizing its coolest looking Sith Lord yet.

As with his original design, McCaig's second look for Darth Maul spoke directly to his own personal nightmares. But rather than pulling from something out of a horror movie, he aimed for a different approach. "I started thinking, 'Star Wars is not real life. It's mythology,'" the concept artist explained, which led him to the best mythological nightmare that he could come up with: clowns. "I was scared to death of Bozo the Clown as a kid. So I made my big scary clown, and I'd run out of faces to draw, so I used mine." 

Modeling Darth Maul after himself, painting his own face with the familiar markings we recognize from "Phantom Menace," McCaig was able to recreate a childhood nightmare that spoke more appropriately to the ideas Lucas was trying to convey with the new villain. He wasn't supposed to be a horror movie monster, at least not of the slasher variety, but an alien warrior who fit into the Star Wars world while still frightening younger viewers. This devilish clown appearance was made complete with horned protrusions from his skull, but that part wasn't McCaig's doing.

In step with the clown theme, Darth Maul was drawn with feathers instead of horns, but because that isn't exactly clear in McCaig's drawing, these feathers were mistranslated into live-action. "[It was makeup effects artist] Nick Dudman's awesome misunderstanding of my drawing — because I had given him black feathers, and he thought they were horns — [that] created Darth Maul," the artist explained, noting Ray Park's stunning performance as another contributing factor. Nowadays, we couldn't even imagine Darth Maul with feathers rather than horns, and after George Lucas had the character brought back from the dead, he has remained one of the franchise's most interesting figures. No doubt, that's by design.