Peter Serafinowicz, the voice of Darth Maul in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, has branded George Lucas’ divisive first prequel movie as “the biggest disappointment” of his life.
Speaking via the Class Clown podcast, Serafinowicz began by explaining how much of a Star Wars fan he had been as a child, when he went through a phase where he watched A New Hope every day. The actor naturally then leapt at the chance of voicing Maul in Lucas’ 1999 prequel — though was left disappointed by the end result, as well as how much he had been paid.
Serafinowicz, best known for his roles in British comedy series Spaced, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, and the recent How to Train Your Dragon remake, said he remembered being compared to the late James Earl Jones when told he would be dubbing over the lines of Maul actor Ray Park.
“James Earl Jones has got the best voice of any human ever, right?” Serafinowicz said. “Then, suddenly there I was with George Lucas, and he was like saying, ‘Well, Peter, you’re the new James Earl Jones,’ and I was like, ‘F***ing hell, am I? Then why are you paying me such s*** money, George?’
“It was weird because this character Darth Maul… I don’t know what I thought of this guy,” Serafinowicz continued. “The design of it was… I wasn’t that into it. When I saw the film I thought it was the biggest disappointment of my life at that point, watching that film. It really was. Have you seen it?”
Opinion on the Star Wars prequels has shifted over time, though upon release the films received significant pushback from older fans. Now, however, a younger generation has grown up with the trilogy and look upon it more fondly — to the extent that BB-8’s puppeteer recently said he expects a future generation to eventually do the same with Disney’s sequels.
“At that time it was so exciting that even being in it… doing this thing, what I thought would be this iconic thing, it was just unimaginable,” Serafinowicz concluded. “It is a weird thing. He only says about 20 words in the film. I’m delighted I’ve done it but it’s a really weird thing to be associated with.”
Maul features in just one chapter of the Star Wars prequels, with far less screentime than Darth Vader in the original movies. The character was brought back for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series and also recently received his own spinoff series Maul: Shadow Lord, though Serafinowicz has not returned to voice the character again.
Image credit: Antony Dickson/South China Morning Post via Getty Images
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social