{"id":365084,"date":"2026-03-25T22:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/365084\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T22:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T22:11:11","slug":"i-love-the-darth-maul-show-eps-take-on-how-a-classic-thriller-film-inspired-the-star-wars-spinoff-cinemablend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/365084\/","title":{"rendered":"I Love The Darth Maul Show EP\u2019s Take On How A Classic Thriller Film Inspired The Star Wars Spinoff | Cinemablend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lucasfilm<\/a> is preparing for the release of yet another upcoming Star Wars show<\/a>, and this is set to turn the focus to on a truly dangerous and (and exciting) character. Maul \u2013 Shadow Lord sees the titular ex-Sith Lord attempt to rebuild his criminal empire and recruit a new apprentice in the aftermath of the Clone Wars. It\u2019s obvious that the animated series takes cues from SW fare that\u2019s preceded it. However, it turns out a classic \u201890s film also served as a key \u201ctouchstone\u201d for what the creative team wanted to achieve.<\/p>\n

The first trailer for Star Wars: Maul \u2013 Shadow Lord<\/a> teased that this particular entry in the canon would be a thrilling ride. So it makes all the sense in the world that series co-creator Matt Michnovetz and his team looked to a thriller for inspiration while crafting the story. Michnovetz recently spoke with SFX Magazine on CinemaBlend and shared some keen insight to his approach to this chapter of Maul\u2019s story. As it turns out, he and his crew were partially inspired by one of Michael Mann\u2019s greatest feature films:<\/p>\n

Heat is a good touchstone for Maul. There\u2019s a pulpy noir feel to all this, where we\u2019re going to show some of the underbelly of the galaxy and the crime syndicates. Maul is a great catalyst for all these characters coming together. <\/p>\n

A 30-year-old classic, Heat<\/a> is a cat-and-mouse tale centered around homicide detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino<\/a>), who pursues seasoned criminal Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro<\/a>). The film received rave reviews upon its release in 1995 and is still regarded as one of the greatest crime films ever made (as it should be). It may be tempting to assume that for Maul, Michnovetz only looked to conjure the same intense injury Mann employed for his film. However, there\u2019s more to it than that.<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

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\"Al\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Warner Bros.)<\/p>\n

Shadow Lord introduces a new character to the Star Wars universe, Brander Lawson (Wagner Moura), a police detective who tracks Maul\u2019s illicit activities on the crime-ridden planet of Janix. Michnovetz explained to SFX that Lawson \u2013 an honest cop \u2013 would struggle to balance his commitments to his job with his obligations to his young son, who he barely sees. Such a dichotomy is similar to how Pacino\u2019s McCauley deals with his work affecting his own personal life. As for Brander, Mitchonovetz teased how much drama he\u2019ll deal with:<\/p>\n

Lawson\u2019s conflicted. He has a high position at the police station, and a kid that he hardly gets to see because of the hours he works. His job was also the reason he\u2019s not so connected to his wife, because she got a job for the Empire, and he\u2019s against the Empire. But Two-Boots, who he works with, is very much by the book.<\/p>\n

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\"Captain\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Lucasfilm)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m eager to see how Maul (played by the returning Sam Witwer) and Lawson\u2019s journeys collide on the spinoff show, especially since the former doesn\u2019t exactly have the best of intentions. While the Zabrak will be facing off with threats even more evil than himself when we see him next, Matt Michnovetz promises that he\u2019ll still be up to his villainous ways<\/a> while maintaining a code of sorts.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There are already so many reasons for me to be excited about the Maul show, including the sweet premise and striking animation. However, I think I\u2019ll have an even greater smile on my face while watching it due to knowing that the creative team partially used one of the best movies of the \u201890s<\/a> as a template.<\/p>\n

So check out Star Wars: Maul \u2013 Shadow Lord when its first two episodes premiere on April 6 as part of the 2026 TV schedule<\/a>. The show will be available to stream with a Disney+ subscription<\/a> and, coincidentally, fans can use that same membership to watch Heat in the meantime.<\/p>\n

Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lucasfilm is preparing for the release of yet another upcoming Star Wars show, and this is set to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":365085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93,61,60,270],"class_list":["post-365084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=365084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/365084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/365085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=365084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=365084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=365084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}