Darth Vader doesn\u2019t show up in Star Wars<\/em> lightly. The key figure in George Lucas\u2018 six-film Star Wars<\/em> saga has already had quite the run but, in the years since, has been deployed only in very key instances. He fought his apprentice on Star Wars Rebels<\/em>. He massacred rebels in Rogue One<\/em>. He even gives Cal Kestis a good scare in a few video games. This week, Vader returned with maybe his most brutal moment yet, and Lucasfilm president Dave Filoni explained the cold, calculated reasoning behind it.<\/p>\n Vader appears in the final two episodes of the latest Star Wars<\/em> animated show, Maul: Shadow Lord.<\/em> He\u2019s deployed to help his Inquisitors capture not just a pair of rogue Jedi but also the former apprentice of his master, Darth Sidious. The result is basically a 30-minute-long fight scene as Maul, Jedi Master Eeko-Dio Daki, and apprentice Devon Izara desperately try to defeat the Dark Lord of the Sith. They fail and face dire circumstances all around.<\/p>\n Lucasfilm held an event to celebrate the final two episodes of the show, and io9 was on hand. There, Filoni, who created the show and is now one of the presidents of Lucasfilm, spoke about his Darth Vader philosophy, and it\u2019s dire as hell.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key to Vader for me is that he\u2019s not Anakin,\u201d Filoni began. \u201cHe doesn\u2019t recognize that. He can\u2019t. Anything that reminds him of Anakin, he\u2019s going to destroy. So when he sees a Jedi, he\u2019s going to destroy the Jedi, because the Jedi would remind him unconsciously or consciously that he betrayed all of his friends and everything he knew and the life he grew up with. For what? For nothing. He lost everything. He made a bad trade. He was lied to. He was deceived. He can\u2019t accept that truth. So he\u2019s even farther down the path than Maul.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cMaul is struggling to let go of hate, but Anakin got consumed by it,\u201d he continued. \u201cIf he were to face what he did, it would destroy him more. I find a lot of pity for him because of what he did and the depth of his treachery. And that\u2019s Darth Vader. Anakin\u2019s trapped in there somewhere, and Darth Vader won\u2019t let him surface. And so to me, the key is not to actually give him a character. He\u2019s devoid of it because he doesn\u2019t care. Darth Vader does not care. He does not have compassion. He does not see you. He sees the thing he wants to destroy, and he will do that. It\u2019s like the same feeling you got in Rogue One<\/em>\u00a0when he comes down the hallway. He doesn\u2019t talk to those guys. He\u2019s going to destroy them. He has one mission, and all of his remorse and all of his anger and all of his hate is in every swing that he does. That\u2019s how it\u2019s resolved.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd [when] he saw Ahsoka, he wants to destroy her,\u201d Filoni said. \u201cShe, of all people, would remind him of who he was. He\u2019s like, \u2018I gotta destroy that. I can\u2019t face that.\u2019 Obi-Wan, he wants to destroy him. So he is a destroyer, Darth Vader. And critically, only his son, only his offspring, could make him spark, could make him see something. But at first, selfishly, [he said] \u2018You and I can rule the galaxy.\u2019 That\u2019s where he goes. He doesn\u2019t come all the way back. It\u2019s a long process.\u201d<\/p>\n Critically, Filoni feels very careful about the use of Vader for one big reason above all. He didn\u2019t create him. George Lucas did.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is George\u2019s character. This is the backbone of the whole thing,\u201d Filoni said. \u201cAnd you don\u2019t want to do anything that interrupts that, or changes that, or diverts that. This doesn\u2019t do it because this is the price you pay when you give in to your anger, when you give in to that terrible side of yourself. And it should terrify all of us. Because we\u2019re all capable of that depth of terror. We\u2019re all capable of doing the wrong thing. Daki\u2019s capable. Devon\u2019s capable. Maul\u2019s very capable. But so are Lawson [and] Riley. They\u2019re all capable of doing terrible things. It\u2019s not something that\u2019s just for the Sith or the Jedi.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThese are the lessons that George is trying to teach us and wants to show us in these stories,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd so that was the important thing to reflect if you dare to put Vader in a story. You have to do it for the right reason and then show him the right way. So yeah, he\u2019s a powerful character.\u201d<\/p>\n But how powerful? And what, if anything, has Maul figured out about him? \u201cYou did so well with the question I could answer, and then you went into a place where I won\u2019t,\u201d Filoni said when posed with the follow-up. \u201cYou were doing this one thing, and then I\u2019m like, \u2018Come on.’\u201d<\/p>\n Okay, so no answers about the show itself. But using Darth Vader on it was not something that happened lightly.<\/p>\n The full season of Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em> is now on Disney+.<\/p>\n Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what\u2019s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote><\/div>\n![\"Io9](\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/app\/uploads\/2025\/09\/io9-2025-spoiler.png\")
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