Entertainment
This 'Star Wars' Prequel Prank Is No Joke
After the dark days of overwrought CGI, the theatrical debut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens has pushed us into a great, intergalactic renaissance. There may not be balance in the force, but there seems to be a peacefulness in the Star Wars community, now that we can put the days of Hayden Christiansen behind us. That's why this fake Netflix trailer for a Darth Maul prequel series is — while admittedly well-done and certainly amusing — would without question strike fear into the hearts of any naive Star Wars fan. And you know what they say about fear...
Now, I wasn't going to lure you in by suggesting for a minute that IGN's trailer for the fictional Star Wars: Fury of Maul was, you know, not fictional. It's pasted together with your favorite Sith one-liners and promising to deliver all the "pain" and "rage" you'd expect from that branch of the force family. Special effects aside, you kind of know it's probably not real anyway.
However, there's a dark side of the cinema, and it focuses on sequels, prequels, reboots, and building upon a franchise that consistently works. For all the good things I can say about Star Wars (and I showed up at the Force Awakens premiere with Leia-on-Hoth braids, I'm not some fairweather fan), I genuinely believe that we don't need to cover every aspect of the fandom for purposes of raking in money. Like, nobody has a bigger crush on Han Solo than I do, but even I question the need for a Han Solo prequel. It feels silly to tamper with perfection, but it isn't crazy to think that this Darth Maul prequel could be a thing.
If we want to be generous, there's a lot we don't know about Darth Maul, having never been given a clear motive or... much dialogue. Hardcore fans could always delve into the Star Wars extended universe or Clone Wars, but he mostly remains a devilish mystery. Maybe it'd be theoretically interesting to find out a bit more but nope. Not if it means risking jumping back into the era of Jar Jar.
In any case, watch the trailer below, and let your fear of the prequels surge through you.
