See How They Created This Epic Lightsaber Duel inStar Wars: The Clone Wars
If you’re a Star Wars fan who hasn’t yet made the leap to their animated series, last Friday’s episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars might be the thing that finally gets you to give it a chance. The episode, “The Phantom Apprentice,” contained—truly—one of the greatest lightsaber duels in Star Wars history. The clash was between Clone Wars heroine Ahsoka Tano and everyone’s favorite horned villain, Maul. The setting was Mandalore (the planet that gives The Mandalorian its title), and the stakes were, well, huge. A behind-the-scenes video, with commentary from executive producer and supervising director Dave Filoni, will give you all the details you need on how this epic battle came to be.
For The Clone Wars fans, the duel between Tano and Maul has been a long time coming and was, therefore, a big deal. Filoni tapped none other than Ray Park, the man who played Maul in both George Lucas’s The Phantom Menace and briefly in Solo: A Star Wars Story. (In the series, Maul is voiced by Sam Witwer.) Utilizing performance capture technology, Park embodied the animated Maul for the climactic battle, but he had stiff competition for best movies from his counterpart. That would be performer Lauren Mary Kim, took on the task of giving Ahsoka those incredible moves. Kim is a veteran stunt performer, having worked on Furious 7, Westworld, Luke Cage, and a ton of video games. (Ahsoka is voiced by Ashley Eckstein in the series.)
Check out the video here:
The final season of The Clone Wars began streaming on Disney+ on February 21, from the aforementioned Dave Filoni (who also directs and produces on Disney+’s wildly popular The Mandalorian). The new episodes in the final season have been building upon the plots in the original series while hurtling towards the events in George Lucas’s film Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith.
The series stars Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker, Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex and the clone troopers, James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Katee Sackhoff as Bo-Katan, and Sam Witwer as Maul.
The next episode of The Clone Wars arrives on May 1, 2020. And on that special Star Wars holiday May the 4th, the Complete Skywalker Saga comes to the streaming service, marking the first time ever you’ll be able to stream all 9 films, from A New Hope to The Rise of Skywalker.
Featured image: Ahsoka Tano and Maul in ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars.’ Courtesy Disney+
