Solo: A Star Wars Story has quite a few references to the other Star Wars movies it’s a prequel to. But, intriguingly, the movie ends with a cameo that ties the movie not just to the originals, but also to some other beloved Star Wars media. And some a little less beloved.
Obviously, there will be spoilers for the ending of Solo: A Stars Wars Story, so if you haven’t seen it yet, go do that right now. No, really. It’s delightful. Tell your boss you’ve got Dantooine fever. And have a parting GIF:
No, that doesn’t happen in the movie. What does happen is that after Han pulls one of his classic improvised gambits, Qi’ra (Emilia Clarke) is left to clean up the mess. Part of that mess is reporting into the head honcho of the criminal syndicate she works for, the Crimson Dawn. So she fires up the holo, makes the call, and a familiar hooded Sith appears.
That’s right, this guy’s back:
Who did you think we were talking about? Some guy named Sheev? And this is actually two cameos for the price of one, no less: Ray Park returns to play Maul’s body, while the voice, originally Peter Serafinowicz, is replaced with Sam Witwer, who voices Maul in animated series and video games.
The cameo will be a shocking one to casual Star Wars fans, so if you haven’t been following Rebels, yes, Darth Maul does, in fact, survive Obi-Wan making him half the man he used to be. Maul is on a bit of a journey we won’t spoil, but suffice to say it makes sense he’d be running a criminal syndicate on the side. As for what he and Qi’ra might turn out to be up to, well, we’ll just have to wait for the sequel.