{"id":8120,"date":"2026-04-03T21:42:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:42:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/2026\/04\/03\/maul-shadow-lord-explores-the-missing-years-of-star-wars-coolest-villain\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T21:42:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T18:42:44","slug":"maul-shadow-lord-explores-the-missing-years-of-star-wars-coolest-villain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/2026\/04\/03\/maul-shadow-lord-explores-the-missing-years-of-star-wars-coolest-villain\/","title":{"rendered":"Maul: Shadow Lord\u00a0Explores The \u2018Missing Years\u2019\u00a0Of\u00a0Star Wars\u2019 Coolest Villain"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Looking like the Devil himself and rocking a badass double-ended lightsaber, Darth Maul entered The Phantom Menace<\/em> as one of Star Wars<\/em>\u2019 coolest villains. Then, scarcely six minutes, a fistful of lines, and one \u2018Duel Of The Fates\u2019 later, he died\u2026 or so we thought. Yes, somehow, Maul returned. And now, after scene-stealing turns in animated series The Clone Wars<\/em> and Rebels<\/em>, the Zabrak baddie is getting his own show, Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em>, to complete his story. As supervising director Brad Rau tells Empire<\/em>, we’re about to see more of the Maul we know \u2014 and the one we don\u2019t. \u201cWe wanted him to remain mysterious\u2026 brutal\u2026 dark,\u201d teases Rau, smirking. \u201cBut there’s so much nuance to this character anytime he shows up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Maul<\/div>\n

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For the uninitiated allow us a brief<\/em> trip back to not so long ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Following his 50%-off trip down a Naboo reactor shaft courtesy of Obi-Wan Kenobi (\u201cKenobayyy!\u201d<\/em>) in Episode I<\/em>, Maul resurfaced in Season 4 of The Clone Wars<\/em>. Kept alive by the power of hate and reforged by magic \u2014 and, more importantly \u2014 metal spider-legs, Maul went on to be reunited with his weirdo brother Savage Opress; tried, and repeatedly failed, to exact revenge upon Kenobi (\u201cKenobayyy!\u201d<\/em>) and his former master, Palpatine; and eventually saw his remaining family mercilessly slain by the Sith. He even tried tempting Rebels<\/em> hero Ezra Bridger to the Dark Side for a bit, before dying \u2013 again \u2013 in a final duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi. Bisection, it turns out, really wasn\u2019t even the half of it.<\/p>\n

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Somewhere among it all though, the son of Dathomir reappeared in live-action in Solo,<\/em> as the head of crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. So the question still remains: how did that<\/em> happen? \u201cWe\u2019re dealing with some of Maul\u2019s missing years,\u201d Shadow Lord<\/em> head writer and co-creator Matt Michnovetz explains to Empire<\/em>. \u201cWe’ve got some real estate on the timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Given Maul\u2019s Clone Wars-era dealings as head of the aptly-named Shadow Collective \u2014 an alliance of crime syndicates rivalling the Sith Order \u2014 the idea of exploring Maul\u2019s resurgence as a mastermind in Star Wars<\/em>\u2019 murky criminal underworld was on the board from the earliest conversations about the show. \u201cEverything came up,\u201d shares Michnovetz \u2014 including Maul material that had never actually made it to the screen before. \u201c\u2018Do we keep [2014\u2019s] Son Of Dathomir<\/em> comic and those unproduced Clone Wars<\/em> scripts as canon? Do we tell the crime story?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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With an untold chapter in one of Star Wars\u2019 greatest characters\u2019 history waiting to be written, the time had come to give Maul centre stage. And it would be a return fuelled not by hate, or Dark Side powers, but… sushi.<\/p>\n

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\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

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\"Star<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Long before he became the co-CEO of Lucasfilm, Dave Filoni was the overlord of Star Wars<\/em> animation. Hand-picked by George Lucas to lead The Clone Wars<\/em>, Filoni went on to oversee Rebels<\/em>, Resistance<\/em>, The Bad Batch<\/em>, and more. Next up, then? Something darker. Something pulpier. Something edgier. Something Maul. And he knew exactly who to call. \u201cI was in a parking lot at my favourite sushi restaurant, and Dave called me up and pitched it,\u201d recalls Michnovetz. The onigiri could wait. \u201cWe had a two-to-three-hour conversation. I was like, \u2018Oh my god, let\u2019s do it. This is incredible\u2019.\u201d The idea, as well as the sushi, presumably.<\/p>\n

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Elsewhere, deep in the inner sanctum of Lucasfilm Animation, Brad Rau was in the trenches on the final season of misfit clones series The Bad Batch<\/em>. When he got wind of a Maul solo show, he too couldn\u2019t resist the idea. \u201cWhen I heard about it, I said, \u2018Wait, what are you guys doing?\u2019,\u201d Rau remembers. Once he\u2019d officially joined the team, Rau and Michnovetz met many times to talk Maul \u2014 over dinner, naturally. \u201cMatty and I have had more than a few conversations about the show at that same sushi restaurant,\u201d he laughs. Honestly, outside of Lucasfilm HQ, this might be the most important office in Star Wars. \u201cThis is where the deals go down,\u201d Michnovetz confirms.<\/p>\n

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In Episode I<\/em>, Maul was a cool-looking baddie with little-to-no hint of anything going on behind his Sith yellow eyes. But in the years since, we\u2019ve seen his pain \u2014 and his hate \u2014 and come to understand him as a uniquely tortured being…<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

The real food for thought with Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em> isn\u2019t only the prospect of learning how its demon-faced protagonist seizes power in a Mid Rim criminal underworld: it\u2019s the promise of a deeper dive into one of Star Wars\u2019 most compelling figures. In Episode I<\/em>, Maul was a cool-looking baddie with little-to-no hint of anything going on behind his Sith yellow eyes. But in the years since, we\u2019ve seen his pain \u2014 and his hate \u2014 and come to understand him as a uniquely tortured being within this universe, a deadly yet damaged warrior forever trapped in a Sisyphean struggle to prove his worth.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHe\u2019s a complicated guy,\u201d says Rau. The director teases that there\u2019s \u201cthe potential for vulnerability\u201d in Maul that viewers \u201cshould watch out for\u201d in Shadow Lord<\/em>. Lest we forget, by the end of the Clone Wars, Maul\u2019s list of losses runs to *deep breath*<\/em> his childhood, his master, his mind, his family, his morality (if he ever had any), his criminal empire, his dignity and<\/em> his legs. Hell, he even lost his \u2018Darth\u2019! That\u2019s a vulnerable position for anyone to find themself in \u2014 double-ended laser sword or not.<\/p>\n

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\"Maul<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

These deeper depths and new shades of the Dathomirian have clearly been on Michnovetz\u2019s mind, too. Shadow Lord<\/em> shows Maul in different lights, conducting Cassius Tea ceremonies as well as saber-kebabbing mobsters in the neo-noir underworld of Janix. \u201cYou\u2019ve got to remember that he was trained by the big bad guy, the most powerful villain in the whole series\u2026\u201d he muses. \u201cHe\u2019s a manipulator, and he\u2019s got this desire for larger schemes, and all these devious means to achieve them.\u201d\u202fStill, any path taken through the Dark Side casts a long and looming shadow. \u201cThis is also a cautionary tale,\u201d teases Michnovetz. \u201cMaul\u2019s a tragic figure, doomed to repeat his mistakes. He’s stubborn, but because of that he’s also a survivor, so you\u2019ve gotta give him that.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And give him that, you do gotta. When we meet Maul in Shadow Lord<\/em>, the horned Houdini\u2019s not long escaped the clutches of the Jedi and<\/em> the Sith amid the chaos of Order 66, fleeing for the badlands of the Mid Rim in a stolen shuttle. Now, around a year or so post-Order 66, it’s a dark time for the galaxy \u2013 but one rife with opportunity for those who move within its shadows. Maul’s journey has taken him to the murky metropolis of Janix, out of sight of the Empire, where he plans to fan the flames of a turf war to seize power while his underworld rivals take each other out; as long as the Imperials don’t catch him first. \u201cWe\u2019re following him through these efforts to achieve all these crazy goals,\u201d says Michnovetz of Maul\u2019s burgeoning Janix operation. \u201cLike Palpatine, he has a meticulous plan. But let\u2019s just say he hits a lot more snags than his old master. He’s got to adapt and change, and I think that\u2019s where the fun and real excitement of the show lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Of course, amid all the plotting and scheming and strategising, you\u2019ll still get the Maul you\u2019ve known and loved since Episode I<\/em>\u2019s \u2018Duel Of The Fates\u2019 showdown. \u201cWe want to see the brutal, action-packed side of this guy,\u201d says Rau. \u201cAnd we do \u2013 it\u2019s pretty cool!\u201d It\u2019s time then for Maul to deliver some serious double-ended street justice. Yeah, we\u2019re thinkin\u2019 the Zabrak\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

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\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n

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Right at the heart of Shadow Lord<\/em> \u2013 as he has been at the heart of all things Maul ever since the character\u2019s 2012 Clone Wars<\/em> return \u2013 is Sam Witwer. Peter Serafinowicz gave Maul\u2019s first Episode I<\/em> words life. Ray Park gave the Dathomirian\u2019s physicality and ferocity form. But it is Witwer \u2014 affectionally referred to by both Rau and Michnovetz as their \u201cJedi Master\u201d on this show \u2014 who has dedicated himself to the character for the last fourteen years.<\/p>\n

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Bringing menace, weight, seduction, and all-timer line reads (\u201cKenobayyyy!\u201d<\/em>) to the role, Witwer has been constantly reframing our understanding of Maul ever since The Clone Wars<\/em> found him an incoherent, mentally shattered wreck on Lotho Minor. \u201cHe \u2014 and we \u2014 are constantly, all of us, looking for ways to see new facets of this character we haven\u2019t seen before,\u201d says Rau of Witwer\u2019s approach. \u201cSometimes it boils all the way down to an emphasis or an attitude punch on a line read that\u2019s different than we expected.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t hurt that Witwer is joined in Shadow Lord<\/em> by a cadre of stellar voice actors, each of whose characters help to reveal Maul in new, unexpected lights. Across the season, Maul finds himself engaged in a Heat<\/em>-like game of cat-and-mouse with Janix cop Captain Brander Lawson (The Secret Agent<\/em> Oscar-nominee Wagner Moura), the duo\u2019s honour codes fascinatingly bumping against one another as both try to achieve their goals while avoiding Imperial intervention and protecting their own.<\/p>\n

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\"Maul<\/div>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Maul<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s young Jedi-on-the-run Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon) and her diminutive master Eeko-Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert), who find themselves involuntarily pulled into Maul\u2019s orbit. Like Maul, Devon and Eeko-Dio have lost everything because of Palpatine. And like Maul, both find themselves hiding out from the Empire on Janix (fans are already theorising whether the Twi\u2019lek will eventually become old-canon favourite Sith apprentice Darth Talon). If experience has taught us anything though, it\u2019s that whenever Maul takes interest in making a young Force user his new apprentice, the teaching invariably flows in both directions \u2014 and things get very complicated, very quickly. Just ask Ahsoka Tano or Ezra Bridger.<\/p>\n

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\u201cAll you really need to know is that this is a fast-paced action thrill ride about a guy who’s been wronged by a bunch of different people, and he wants payback\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re a card-carrying Maul-head, haven\u2019t been following Maul\u2019s story since Episode I<\/em>, or see the name and think somebody\u2019s just misspelt a shopping centre, Shadow Lord<\/em> is designed to welcome all comers. \u201cAll you really need to know is that this is a fast-paced action thrill ride about a guy who’s been wronged by a bunch of different people, and he wants payback,\u201d promises Michnovetz.<\/p>\n

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So yes, Maul: Shadow Lord<\/em> is a Star Wars<\/em> show. It is<\/em> a Dark Side show. But it\u2019s also a crime series, a mob drama, a pulp fiction about bad guys and worse guys as heavily influenced by the aforementioned Heat<\/em> \u2014 and The Untouchables<\/em>, and Raymond Chandler\u2019s Marlowe mysteries \u2014 as George Lucas\u2019 own THX-1138<\/em> and Ralph McQuarrie’s OG trilogy sketches.<\/p>\n

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\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

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As ever with Maul, it seems his rise to the top of the galaxy\u2019s criminal underworld won\u2019t be straightforward. Michnovetz teases some \u201cpretty crazy stuff\u201d in store; we may know how and when Maul\u2019s story ends, but that doesn\u2019t mean we know the whole story. \u201cWe know Maul\u2019s fate,\u201d he states, promising \u201csome zigs and zags that you’re not expecting, 100 percent.\u201d Plus, of course, it\u2019s worth remembering that the survival of any supporting players isn\u2019t guaranteed. As Michnovetz reminds us of the show\u2019s new faces, \u201cwe don’t know their fate or their timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In time, Shadow Lord<\/em> will complete the story of Maul \u2014 but this chapter is only just beginning. Season 2 is already in the works at Lucasfilm Animation, and there\u2019s still much to explore before we discover how Maul came to pop up in Solo<\/em>. \u201cJust wait \u2018til you see where this goes,\u201d says Michnovetz. As Episode I<\/em> taught us all those years ago, you can\u2019t keep a good Maul down.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Star Wars: Maul \u2014 Shadow Lord begins streaming on Disney+ from April 6<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Looking like the Devil himself and rocking a badass double-ended lightsaber, Darth Maul entered The Phantom Menace as one of Star Wars\u2019 coolest villains. Then, scarcely six minutes, a fistful of lines, and one \u2018Duel Of The Fates\u2019 later, he died\u2026 or so we thought. Yes, somehow, Maul returned. And now, after scene-stealing turns in animated series The Clone Wars and Rebels, the Zabrak baddie is getting his own […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-47"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/imdbnews.ir\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}