What If Darth Maul Killed Obi-Wan?

Love or hate The Phantom Menace, its ending contains one of the most famous lightsaber battles in the history of Star Wars. Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi square off with the evil Darth Maul, two-on-one. When the dust clears, Qui-Gon is dead and it looks like Maul is too, although it was later revealed that he miraculously survived getting cut in half and hurled down an endless elevator shaft. (Those Sith, man. They’re like a Steven Seagal movie: Hard to kill.) That leaves only Obi-Wan alive to carry on in future movies.

The young Obi-Wan goes on to become the most important Star Wars characters: Mentoring Anakin Skywalker, battling Darth Vader, and then aiding Luke Skywalker as he takes his first step into a larger world. But Obi-Wan barely escaped the battle with Maul. And when you think about it, he probably should have died. He didn’t even have the high ground!

So what would Star Wars look like if Obi-Wan had also died in The Phantom Menace’s climactic lightsaber battle? That’s the subject of our latest Star Wars video which teases out that very what-if to see how this one little change would radically reshape Star Wars canon. Watch it below:

READ MORE: The Single Worst Post-Release Change in All of Star Wars

If you liked that video imagining what Star Wars would look like if Darth Maul had killed Obi-Wan, check out more of our videos below, including why Obi-Wan is Star Wars’ most important character, every plot hole from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series explained, and the secret meaning of the Obi-Wan Kenobi show. Plus, there’s tons more over at ScreenCrush’s YouTube channel. Be sure to subscribe to catch all our future episodes. All episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi are now streaming on Disney+.

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