George Lucas’ canceled TV show, Star Wars: Underworld, would reportedly have featured the return of Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi in a duel with Darth Maul. It’s easy to forget that George Lucas himself was the one who spun Star Wars out beyond a film franchise. In fact, in the 2000s, he planned to make a live-action Star Wars TV show.

We don’t know much about Lucas’ planned live-action TV show. Apparently scripts for 60 episodes of Star Wars: Underworld were prepared, and we know one story featured an unlikely romance in which Palpatine was betrayed by a gangster (weirdly, this Underworld plot inspired the God of War games). But now new reports suggest Underworld would have been even more ground-breaking.

We know that Star Wars: Underworld was set on the lower levels of Coruscant in the Dark Times of the Empire’s reign. Yahoo! just dropped a fascinating report including some rumored plots:

“Rumored plots will sound eerily familiar to anyone who’s watched the last ten years of Star Wars TV shows: the early years of the Empire under Emperor Palpatine, how Han Solo and Lando Calrissian met, a Boba Fett appearance, Obi-Wan Kenobi appearing in Coruscant before a final duel with Maul, and more.”

Lucas Remained Fascinated By The Resurrected Darth Maul

He Knew He Made A Mistake Killing The Sith Lord

It’s become clear that Lucas knew he made a mistake killing Darth Maul. Lucas briefly planned a villain twist in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, revealing the cyborg General Grievous was actually Darth Maul, saved from death by cybernetic experiments. He found another way to bring Maul back in Star Wars: The Clone Wars, using Nightsister magick.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels both developed the rivalry between Maul and Obi-Wan Kenobi, but it’s staggering to imagine seeing this in live-action – and even more incredible envisioning this in live-action, with Ewan McGregor and Ray Park reprizing the roles.

I Am Glad Lucas’ Obi-Wan Kenobi Battle Didn’t Happen

We Got Something Better

As exciting as this prospect may be, though, I think I’m glad it didn’t happen. For one thing, the idea of Obi-Wan being active during the Dark Times sits rather uncomfortably for me; he’s supposed to be exiled to Tatooine. Disney’s Obi-Wan Kenobi show just about works, but I’m staggered by the idea of Obi-Wan going to Coruscant.

Maul’s vendetta would go on to become the focus of his Star Wars Rebels plot, and it built to a stunning climax in the season 3 episode “Twin Suns.” As much as I’d love to see some of Lucas’ canceled plans for Star Wars, I genuinely don’t think it’s possible to do better than “Twin Suns.” Still, hopefully Lucasfilm will still eventually tell us more about Star Wars: Underworld.

Source: Yahoo!