Never say die.
It’s easy to argue that the very best part of George Lucas’s Star Wars prequels was Darth Maul. All of his scenes in The Phantom Menace and especially his “Duel of the Fates” with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi were spectacular, a cut above the rest of the three films, thanks in no small part to the physical prowess (and facial expressions) of actor Ray Park. The lightsaber scene is still unsurpassed as the best Jedi-Sith duel of all eleven Star Wars films. Yet, as we learned time and time again with Star Wars (see, for example, Emperor Palpatine), just because someone knocks you down a vast Imperial chasm, it doesn’t mean you’re actually dead (we should have learned this lesson from Luke in The Empire Strikes Back). The animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars resurrected Maul, first as a rebuilt man with robotic legs in season four (an amnesiac found on a “junkyard” planet like where Rey is later seen), then upgraded with more human-like cyborg legs. Maul returned for the seventh season, voiced again by Sam Witwer, where he saw a rematch with The Clone Wars heroine Ahsoka Tano, former Padawan of Anakin Skywalker. Maul was portrayed by Ray Park using motion capture for the animation.
Maul returned in Solo: A Star Wars Story, revealed in the film’s climax as the ultimate villain behind the curtain. Was Emilia Clarke’s Qi-ra intended to be Maul’s Sith student? Was she about to be? Will we ever find out? Oddly enough, we didn’t/couldn’t learn the answer because the film Solo was made toward the end of Star Wars Rebels, which ended its run years after the film Solo, although it takes place before the events in Solo. What we do know is Darth Maul is still around for Star Wars Rebels, where he tricks the young series lead Ezra into being his student, and ultimately dies at the hands of… Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was hiding Luke on Tatooine (see the live-action Obi-Wan Kenobi series). Confused yet? This ordering might help:
- The Phantom Menace
- Attack of the Clones
- The Clone Wars
- Revenge of the Sith
- Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Star Wars Rebels
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Star Wars/A New Hope
- The Empire Strikes Back
- Return of the Jedi
- The Mandalorian/The Book of Boba Fett/Ahsoka
- The Force Awakens
- The Last Jedi
- The Rise of Skywalker
Maul is back on the small screen this year, and it’s likely not the last we’ll see of him. In Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord, fans will catch up with Maul as he begins to develop his crime syndicate away from the Empire. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like he’ll be interacting with Paul Bettany’s Dryden Vos or Emilia Clarke’s Qi’ra, as the series takes place “somewhere” between Maul’s defeat at the hands of Ahsoka Tano in the final season of The Clone Wars and the end of his story in Rebels. The series has a large voice cast of familiar actors.
Here’s your first look at Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord:
The animation at first look appears to be an upgrade from past Star Wars animated series.
Sam Witwer returns as the voice of Maul. Other voice actors include Gideon Adlon as Devon Izara, Maul’s new Twi’lek apprentice (always two there are…), Wagner Moura as police detective Captain Brander Lawson, Lawson’s rebot partner 2BoT voiced by Richard Ayoade, Dennis Haysbert as Master Eeko-Dio-Daki, Chris Diamantopoulos as Looti Vario, Charlie Bushnell as Rylee Lawson, Vanessa Marshall as Rook Kast, David W. Collins as Spybot, A.J. LoCascio as Marrok, an Inquisitor, and Steve Blum as Icarus. Although the series was created by Dave Filoni, The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels writer Matt Michnovetz is the showrunner and head writer and Brad Rau as director.
Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord starts streaming Monday, April 6, 2026 with the first two episodes, and two new episodes will arrive every Monday through the ninth and tenth episodes landing on Star Wars Day, May 4, 2026, only on Disney+.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
