Read further and I can't guarantee you won't be hobbled by a fantastically good spoiler, preventing you from making the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs.

At the end of Solo: A Star Wars story, it's revealed Emilia Clarke's Q'ira has been in contact with fan favorite Star Wars villain, Darth Maul, played once again by Ray Park. If you've only followed the Star Wars movies, your last memory of Darth Maul was seeing him fall to his apparent death after being sliced in two by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

However, if you've watched the Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, you'd know Darth Maul survived his fight with Obi-Wan. You'd also know he now has robotic metal legs. Darth Maul is voiced by Sam Witwer, who also voiced him in Clone Wars. (FYI on the timeline, which can admittedly get confusing: The Clones Wars series takes place between Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith. Solo: A Star Wars Story takes place some time after Episode 3, but before Episode 4: A New Hope.)

So what's going on here?

There's at least a three-year gap between when we first see Q'ira at the beginning of Solo and when we and Han catch up with her later in the film. At the start of the film, both Q'ira and Han are presented as young, bright eyed and hopeful, despite their not-too-favorable situation as slaves to local gangsters. After she and Han reconnect on the yacht of Dryden Vos, the gangster played by Paul Bettany, it's hinted that in the time since he'd last saw her, she's changed. In what way? Well, we're told that she she's done things Han wouldn't understand.

At one point in the middle of the film, we get a glimpse of just how much more capable she's become. We see her take down a guard using some form of hand-to-hand combat, but the scene is intentionally obstructed by a door, so we don't really see how she does it. She mentions she's learned a bit of Teras Kasi from Vos. Teras Kasi is a form of hand-to-hand combat that exists in the Star Wars universe. If it sounds familiar, but you can't place it, you've probably heard about it from this 1997 PlayStation game, Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi.

However, it's not until the end of the movie that we truly get to see Q'ira in action as she fights and pretty handily takes Vos out using some impressive hand-to-hand combat skills. Afterward, we see her contact a hooded figure with a voice familiar to anyone who's watched Clone Wars. The figure revealed as Darth Maul.

Seriously though, how'd she learn to fight like that?

Here's what I think the story is. Darth Maul has been training Q'ira as his apprentice and has taught her Teras Kasi. (OK, about to briefly get deep in the nerdom weeds here): In the Extended Star Wars universe, which refers to books, comics and video games Lucasfilm does not recognize as canon, Maul was a practitioner of Teras Kasi, and while in the film it's not explicitly stated that he has anything to do with the martial art, it can easily be assumed he passed on his skills to Q'ira.

What now?

As a movie, I was entertained by Solo, but it didn't leave me with any great desire to see it again anytime soon. However, the Q'ira reveal and Darth Maul appearance was a huge surprise for me and for sure was my favorite moment in the film.

I don't really care what happens next with Han or Lando, but I can't wait to see where they take Q'ira's character. She proved herself quite the combatant and a female Sith (if indeed that's what's she's in training to be) isn't something we've seen on the big screen before. Hopefully we don't have to wait too long to find out what her next move is. 

Solo: A Star Wars Story: Here's everything more we know about the latest Star Wars film, including when you can see it, who else stars and what you can expect when it opens.

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