A lot of people die in the season finale of Maul: Shadow Lord. Most of those deaths are, indeed, pretty brutal. But it turns out one largely left unseen is actually meant to be one of the wildest in recent Star Wars memory.
Darth Vader makes his grim presence in Shadow Lord‘s narrative known after taking out what is arguably the closest Maul had to a confidant up to this point: Rook Kast, the last of Maul’s dwindling Mandalorian loyalists left by the season finale. It’s a fun little moment—Kast and the sole other Mando left on Team Maul scout ahead in a foggy jungle, Kast runs back alone almost immediately petrified that “something” is out there, only for her to be swept off her feet and magically dragged back into the mist. One scream and some heavy breathing later, it’s Vader time.
It’s all well and good, and an effective way of establishing Vader’s threat before he proceeds to spend much of the last episode just wailing down on his opponents. But what was meant to be happening off-screen wasn’t just a simply slash of a lightsaber or a Force choke: Darth Vader was yanking her lungs out of her throat.
That was, according to a behind-the-scenes story shared by the official Star Wars website, voice actress Vanessa Marshall’s intent in performing her final, blood-curdling scream as Kast, recalled by Shadow Lord‘s supervising director Brad Rau. To support Marshall’s wishes, the sound design team for the show added an iconic Ben Burtt sound effect from A New Hope, the throat crush we hear when Darth Vader chokes out Captain Antilles aboard the Tantive IV.
You could argue a throat being crushed sounds very different from someone having their lungs magically pulled out of their throat (is it through the mouth? Is it literally through the walls of the throat’s muscles? So many horrifying questions!)—Burtt’s throat crush was apparently made from walnuts being crushed, and you’d perhaps expect more… wetness out of such a gruesome kill.
At the end of the day, Shadow Lord is a show that’s still aimed at family audiences, although one that’s perhaps older than Clone Wars or Rebels was aimed at. Maybe some wetter sounds could’ve been a bit too far! But still, it’s a hell of a way to go, even if it’s done off-screen.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
Leave a Reply