I do think the lightsaber was gratuitous. It would be like Boba Fett firing up his jetpack for no reason.
Same here - I think it may be there for the more ‘casual viewer’, who may not have initially recognised Maul without him lighting up that red sabre? (maybe that was the intention of having him use the force to bring the sabre to hand and then light it up?)
I imagine it may be something some of the talented fan editors on here will consider to edit out.