Darth Maul Lives: The Clone Wars introduces the Sith Rule of 1/2

Just how pissed off would someone be if they got cut in half then fell down a giant shaft?  I think we are about to find out.  USA Today and EW.com made the announcement that we have all been waiting for since the debut of Savage Opress and the end of the Nightsisters arc half way through The Clone Wars Season Three.  EW.com has an exclusive video clip, click on the link below to see a very cool Darth Maul montage.

Darth Maul Lives!  

From the USA Today article:

Filoni was as surprised as anyone during a Clone Wars story meeting when Star Warscreator George Lucas asked Filoni to figure out a way to bring Darth Maul back. He had introduced a similar warrior, the powerhouse Savage Opress, in the third season ofClone Wars because of the lack of a Maul-type antagonist. 

Opress plays a major role in the return of his "long-lost brother," Filoni says, and fans can expect Darth Maul to reignite his rivalry with Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi Knight who cut him in half.
Filoni expects a strong reaction from fans, but he promises he didn't bring back Darth Maul for a short-lived stunt.
"There's a lot of ground that has not been covered as far as Darth Maul is concerned, so there's a lot of room to grow with him," Filoni says. "It's all balanced with, 'Boy, we've gotta make this really good because this is a really big deal.'"

From the EW.com article:

“First of all, how does he survive getting cut in half?” says Filoni. “Plus, he fell! And also, don’t forget Obi-Wan Kenobi is still around, so I’m sure Maul wouldn’t be very happy with him.”Fans will note that there is precedent for this kind of resurrection. “The Dark Side of the Force is the path to many abilities some consider to be…unnatural,” Darth Sidious says in Revenge of the Sith. Sidious and his master found a way to use the Force to cheat death—that’s how he was able to keep Vader alive after that little swan dive into a lava field. Couldn’t Maul have picked up on some of that too? Says Filoni, “He’s suffered through a lot to keep himself alive and implemented the training of his master to do so.”

Once you get beyond the plausibility issues, what’s left is actually an amazing storytelling opportunity. The Clone Wars has featured other characters from the movies, but mostly original trilogy stalwarts like Chewbacca, Tarkin, and Ackbar. Those are all characters whose fates have already been decided. “Here, we’re moving forward with Maul,” Filoni says. “He’s more than ten years older than he was in The Phantom Menace. That’s immensely satisfying, because now nobody knows what’s going to happen to him. I know, but nobody else does.”

USA Today gets the money shot however, they get TCW promotional image of the Darth Maul character model.  You will notice that the cropping on the image is very interesting and noticeably cuts off above Maul's waste.  Is this to maintain the surprise of the him getting the comic book inspired cyborg legs?  Or does he get more human looking black leather encased Vader-legs?

The shirtless look with the the gauntlets and the neck covering (groget?) looks very similar to what we see from Sideshow Collectibles Cyborg Darth Maul with toned down cranial horns.

The other very interesting aspect of the image is that he is wielding a single bladed lightsaber.  Does this mean he reflected upon his previous fighting style and decided that to confront the Jedi and get revenge on Obi-Wan in particular he needed to adapt and use a different single bladed fighting technique?  Or does he have to hilts that he can attach together to use to fight as one single blade, as two single blades or one dual-blade lightsaber?

How did Maul survive? According to Dave Filoni; “He’s suffered through a lot to keep himself alive and implemented the training of his master to do so.” What does this mean?  Did he put himself into some kind of Sith stasis, similar to the Jedi hybernation trance?  Assuming the Obi-Wan's lightsaber completely cauterized the torso wound, Maul would have to have used the Force to halt his seeming fall to his death.

Before Dave's comments I might have speculated that Maul may have been resurected by the magic of the Nightsisters.  I wouldn't put much beyond the abilities of Mother Talzin.  Or perhaps he was a little smarter the Sidious thought and had a clone body prepared to transfer his essence into, like we see with Palpatine and the Dark Empire comic series.  Or perhaps he maintained his identity within the Force after dying and somehow navigated his way back from the netherworld of death back to life and was able to somehow craft a new body to contain his essence.  

Whatever route the story takes I am one jazzed up fanboy at the confirmation of this news.

SOURCE: USA Today  and EW.com