The following contains spoilers for the novelization of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
The ending of Solo: A Star Wars Story left a lot of Star Wars fans with questions. Throughout the story, we hear references to a character that Dryden Vos ultimately answers to, but it's not until the very end of the movie that we learn who the ultimate crime boss is. However, while the audience of Star Wars fans recognized the red and black skinned Sith lord, it turns out that Qi'ra, the new head of Vos' crime syndicate, did not. Mur Lafferty, who wrote the upcoming novelization of Solo, doesn't actually name the character in the new book, because she says Qi'ra doesn't actually know who she's talking to. According to Lafferty...
I don't think she would have known who he was. They sort of implied that Dryden was beholden to someone a lot more powerful than he was. And so she knew that whoever it was scared him, but she didn't know that the guy used to be a Sith Lord. She didn't know who he was. She just knew that that button would call Dryden Vos' boss.
It's not clear in the scene in the movie whether Qi'ra really knows what she's gotten herself into when Darth Maul appears as a hologram before her, but according to the author of the book version of the story, which has the ability to dive deeper, she doesn't. She knew how to contact the person that her old boss answered to, but that doesn't mean she actually knows who that is.
And when you think about it, that actually makes a lot of sense. While Star Wars fans have been inundated with stories of the Jedi and the Sith, the fact is that many of these characters only take up a small corner of the galaxy far, far away. Darth Maul only reveals his existence to the Jedi moments before he is (apparently) killed, so there's no reason for Darth Maul to be a household name. As Mur Lafferty explains to Star Wars.com...
It's hard to think that Vader and Maul and all these great villains we've known for so many years, a lot of them were behind the scenes and not known to the general public. Han Solo didn't even believe in the Jedi, so the grand battles and stuff that are so forefront to the audience are not, necessarily, known to the random person growing up on Corellia.
It makes the reveal of Darth Maul actually a lot bigger moment because not only is Qi'ra learning who it is she works for, once she discovers who Darth Maul actually is, it will reveal an entire side of the galaxy that she hasn't previously been exposed to. Whether or not we'll see more of this story on the big screen is unclear, but there's a good chance this story will continue in one of the many entertainment mediums where you can find Star Wars. The novelization of Solo: A Star Wars Story will be available September 4.
