Maul – Shadow Lord Quietly Recast A Star Wars Villain (and You Probably Noticed)

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Warning: This article contains spoilers for the season finale of "Maul — Shadow Lord".

When "Solo: A Star Wars Story" came out, one of the standout characters in the film was Dryden Vos, played by Paul Bettany. Bettany gave the character a smooth shine as the charismatic leader of the Crimson Dawn underworld gang, but also made him unhinged and liable to crack at a moment's notice. 

Bettany was cast in the role by Ron Howard, who took over as director of the film in the eleventh hour and had worked with the actor before on "The DaVinci Code." Bettany has an incredibly distinctive voice, and thanks to Bettany's work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Jarvis and the Vision, most people are familiar with it. So, when Dryden Vos showed up in the season finale of "Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord" it was immediately apparent the role had been recast. But who took on the part?

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As Dryden Vos made the leap from live-action on the big screen to small-screen animation , Scott Whyte took on the part of everyone's favorite unhinged underworld boss. Whyte has spent the last twenty years building an impressive resume of voice work, from taking the role of Homer Simpson for the video game "The Simpsons: Minutes to Meltdown" to the voicing Fumihiko Takaba on "Jujutsu Kaisen." He's done a number of "Star Wars" projects as a voice over the years as well — mainly video games, including "The Old Republic" and "Tales from the Galaxy's Edge" — so it's no surprise to hear his voice pop up in a television show in a galaxy far, far away. 

Where most people might know Whyte's face, though, is his on-screen acting debut. He played one of the Icelandic heavies, Gunnar Stahl, in "D2: The Mighty Ducks." He then came back for the sequel, "D3: The Mighty Ducks," to play the goalie, Scooter, the love interest of Julie, one of the girls who'd been added to the team in the previous film.

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Returning to Dryden Vos, "Maul – Shadow Lord" unveils a clearer storyline that we hadn't had before about how things worked with Crimson Dawn, what happened behind the scenes that brought Dryden to power, and how Maul came to control him. This pair of episodes begins with Dryden Vos offering Maul a deal. Maul is trapped on Janix and Dryden offers to extract him, despite the risks. The cost? Maul has to kill the current head of Crimson Dawn and install Dryden as the head. If that's the case, then that could very well be the main narrative for the second season of "Maul — Shadow Lord". 

On the other hand, that story suggests itself easily enough and could probably be skipped right over. If the writers wanted to have a time jump in the story and settle into the relationship between the two as they navigate their struggles of power, that would work just as well and allow Maul to focus on the training of his new apprentice. 

The entire first season of "Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord" is currently streaming on Disney+. Season 2 is already in production, but a release window has yet to be announced.