Movies

New Releases • A-D • E-H • I-P • Q-Z • Articles • Festivals • Interviews • Dark Knight • Indiana Jones • John Wick • MCU

Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord, starring Sam Witwer as the voice of Darth Maul and series created by Dave Filoni
Trailer: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord
Created by Dave Filoni
Hunted 6 April 2026
#StarWars

Maul – Shadow Lord is one of the better entries in the post–Episode IX era of Star Wars. It’s impressive. Somewhat impressive.

Revenge of the Maul

Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord montage poster

“Darth Maul? Didn’t that dude die in that horrible Star Wars movie with the little kid?”

If your knowledge of Maul, now sans the Darth honorific, begins and ends with The Phantom Menace and recollections of how Maul was a huge disappointment too easily dispatched given all the hype surrounding his skills as a shadow menace, then this series might not be for you. That’s simply because there’s quite a bit of back story that pulls Darth Maul from the great shaft of The Phantom Menace, landing him in a betrayal by Darth Sidious and thereby derailing his Sith career path. It’s all told in episodes of the Clone Wars, Rebels and Bad Batch animated series (available on Disney+), in turn teeing up several points of conflict that fuel the bulk of Shadow Lord’s narrative.

That’s the curious thing about Maul: his new series takes place between his first death on Naboo in The Phantom Menace and his second death on Tatooine in Rebels, which times out shortly before the events of A New Hope.

Getting past that element of narrative baggage, the question, then, is to determine how well Shadow Lord works on its own merits.

The ambiguous answer is, “your results may vary.”

There’s plenty to admire here, including the continuation of the animation style in those aforementioned series. While the humans – at times – appear as offputtingly plasticine, there’s enough richness in the details to make for a presentation that at times throws off a nifty Blade Runner vibe.

But, to hear series scribe Matt Michnovetz tell it, the actual inspiration behind this series is Michael Mann’s 1995 crime thriller, Heat, starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

Heat?

Cool.

The Shadow Collective

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is the brainchild of Dave Filoni, who also co-masterminded those other animated efforts and who has now replaced Kathleen Kennedy as the head honcho of Lucasfilm. Does this series portend great things yet to come under the new leadership? That’s a definite maybe.

Here’s the problem: several years ago, to satisfy the “content” beast that is Disney+, Lucasfilm (and Marvel) were tasked with churning out loads of programming to lure subscribers. From those efforts came some great stuff, such as The Mandalorian (at least the bulk of its so-far three seasons). But there were also missteps. The Book of Boba Fett easily tops that list.

Who thought it was a good idea to give Boba Fett – the most feared and notorious bounty hunter in the galaxy – a redemption story tacked on after his supposed demise in Return of the Jedi?

The fear here is that path might be in the offing for Maul, were it not already known he’ll be dead again in a few years and once again at the wrong end of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber. It’s not a definite based on the first eight episodes alone, but the tease is there in Episode 8 by way of Maul’s flashbacks to a tormented childhood. On the one hand, it’s good insight into his drive. On the other hand, the fear (and absolute dread) is it’s setting up a kumbaya moment for a character who has a particularly impressive rap sheet. We’re talking about a record of arrests and prosecutions, not something along the lines of Straight Outta Coruscant.

Can’t evil simply be left alone as evil pure and simple? Does every Star Wars devil require sympathy?

Let’s go with “yes” on the former and “no” on the latter.

Thread the Needle

Maul – Shadow Lord essentially tracks four storylines across its 10-episode season (and it’s already been picked up for a second season).

Front-and-center, there’s Maul’s unquenchable thirst for revenge against his oppressors and those who’ve profited from his suffering. He’s a scorched earth kinda baddie, so it doesn’t matter how low you are or how high. That’s a warning for you, Mr. Sidious.

Next, as the series begins, Maul (Sam Witwer) notes a young Jedi, Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon), a Twi’lek who’s being trained by Eeko-Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert). She questions some of the life choices expected of a Jedi and she seems to be the perfect match as Maul’s next student of the Dark Side. Maul, after all, has an interesting alternative view of what constitutes a “productive life.”

Naturally, since this is more of a crime thriller and less of a traditional Star Wars story, there’s the police angle. Capt. Brander Lawson (Wagner Moura) is in hot pursuit of Maul, hoping to curb his criminal ways while also himself breakin’ Imperial law by harboring that padawan and her master.

And then there are those Imperial forces, which are brought in to bring its wretched idea of peace and order to this set of situations.

Dawn of Crimson

Maul – Shadow Lord is at its best when it allows Maul to do what he does best: be bad. Very, very bad. E-vil with a capital “E.” It’s fun to watch him “go to town” on his sworn enemies.

It’s also fun to hear teases of various criminal organizations, such as Maul’s own Crimson Dawn and Shadow Collective. There’s also Black Sun and the spicy Pykes.

On the downside, Maul’s fate is already sealed, which mutes some dramatic elements.

But, there’s some solid tension in watching young Devon work through her internal struggles as a Jedi in training under the tutelage of a calm, altruistic master. And there’s some good-natured humor (mostly thanks to a police droid nicknamed Two-Boots (Richard Ayoade), so named in reference to his quirky fashion choice of wearing boots on his bot feet).

As a bonus, there’s a cool score by siblings Sean and Deana Kiner, along with their father, Kevin. Over the years, they’ve collectively become well-versed in crafting music for the Star Wars animated worlds while making knowing references to John Williams’ classic themes.

It’s thanks to these animated series that Maul has had his fandom resuscitated, clearing the path for him to become everybody’s favorite (sinister) Dathomirian Zabrak.

As a standalone effort, Shadow Lord works best as a placative offering to those longtime fans. It’s an unlikely source of a new surge in the fandom, though. That’ll likely have to wait until next year – after Mando and Grogu have their time on the big screen – when Ryan Gosling fires up his Starfighter.

• Originally published at MovieHabit.com.