{"id":376275,"date":"2026-04-05T12:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T12:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/376275\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T12:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T12:47:11","slug":"shadow-lord-explores-the-missing-years-of-star-wars-coolest-villain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/376275\/","title":{"rendered":"Shadow Lord\u00a0Explores The \u2018Missing Years\u2019\u00a0Of\u00a0Star Wars’ Coolest Villain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Looking like the Devil himself and rocking a badass double-ended\u00a0lightsaber, Darth Maul\u00a0entered\u00a0The Phantom Menace<\/a>\u00a0as one of\u00a0Star Wars<\/a>\u2019\u00a0coolest villains. Then, scarcely six minutes, a fistful of lines, and one \u2018Duel\u00a0Of\u00a0The\u00a0Fates\u2019 later, he died\u2026 or so we thought. Yes, somehow, Maul returned. And now, after scene-stealing turns in animated series\u00a0The Clone Wars<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Rebels<\/a>, the\u00a0Zabrak\u00a0baddie is getting his own show,\u00a0Maul: Shadow Lord<\/a>, to complete his story. As supervising director Brad Rau tells\u00a0Empire,\u00a0we’re about to\u00a0see more of the Maul we know \u2014 and the one we\u00a0don\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

\"Maul<\/p>\n

For\u00a0the uninitiated\u00a0allow us a\u00a0brief\u00a0trip\u00a0back to not so\u00a0long ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Following his 50%-off trip down a Naboo reactor shaft courtesy of Obi-Wan Kenobi (\u201cKenobayyy!\u201d)\u00a0in\u00a0Episode I<\/a>,\u00a0Maul\u00a0resurfaced in Season 4 of\u00a0The Clone Wars. 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\u00a0Opress; tried,\u00a0and repeatedly\u00a0failed,\u00a0to exact revenge upon Kenobi (\u201cKenobayyy!\u201d) and his former master, Palpatine; and eventually\u00a0saw\u00a0his\u00a0remaining\u00a0family\u00a0mercilessly slain\u00a0by the\u00a0Sith. He even tried tempting\u00a0Rebels\u00a0hero 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\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0even the half of it.<\/p>\n

Somewhere among it all though,\u00a0the son of\u00a0Dathomir\u00a0reappeared in\u00a0live-action\u00a0in\u00a0Solo<\/a>,\u00a0as the head of crime syndicate Crimson Dawn. So\u00a0the question still\u00a0remains:\u00a0how did\u00a0that\u00a0happen? \u201cWe\u2019re dealing with some of Maul\u2019s missing years,\u201d\u00a0Shadow Lord\u00a0head writer and co-developer Matt\u00a0Michnovetz\u00a0explains to Empire. \u201cWe’ve got some real estate on the timeline.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given Maul\u2019s Clone Wars-era dealings as head of the aptly-named Shadow Collective \u2014 an alliance of crime syndicates\u00a0rivalling\u00a0the Sith Order \u2014\u00a0the idea of exploring Maul\u2019s resurgence as a mastermind in Star Wars\u2019 murky criminal underworld was on the board from the earliest conversations about the show.\u00a0\u201cEverything came up,\u201d\u00a0shares\u00a0Michnovetz\u00a0\u2014 including Maul material that\u00a0had\u00a0never actually made it to the screen\u00a0before. \u201c\u2018Do we keep [2014\u2019s]\u00a0Son\u00a0Of\u00a0Dathomir\u00a0comic and those unproduced\u00a0Clone Wars\u00a0scripts as canon? Do we tell the crime story?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

With\u00a0an untold chapter\u00a0in\u00a0one of Star Wars\u2019 greatest characters\u2019 history waiting to be written, the time had come to give Maul centre stage.\u00a0And it would be\u00a0a return fuelled not by hate, or Dark Side powers, but…\u00a0sushi.<\/p>\n

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

\"Star<\/p>\n

Long before he became the co-CEO of Lucasfilm, Dave Filoni was the overlord of\u00a0Star Wars\u00a0animation. Hand-picked by George Lucas to lead\u00a0The Clone Wars, Filoni went on to oversee\u00a0Rebels,\u00a0Resistance,\u00a0The Bad Batch<\/a>, and more. Next up,\u00a0then? Something darker. Something pulpier. Something edgier. Something Maul. And he knew exactly\u00a0who to call. \u201cI was in a parking lot at my favourite sushi restaurant, and Dave called me up and pitched it,\u201d recalls\u00a0Michnovetz.\u00a0The onigiri could wait.\u00a0\u201cWe had a two-to-three-hour conversation. I was like, \u2018Oh my god,\u00a0let\u2019s\u00a0do it. This is incredible\u2019.\u201d The idea, as well as the\u00a0sushi, presumably.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, deep in the inner sanctum of Lucasfilm Animation, Brad Rau was in the trenches on the final season<\/a> of misfit\u00a0clones\u00a0series\u00a0The Bad Batch. When he got wind of a Maul solo\u00a0show, he too\u00a0couldn\u2019t resist the idea. \u201cWhen I heard about it, I said, \u2018Wait, what are\u00a0you guys\u00a0doing?\u2019,\u201d Rau remembers. Once\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0officially joined the\u00a0team, Rau and\u00a0Michnovetz\u00a0met 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.\u00a0Honestly, outside of Lucasfilm HQ, this might be the most important office in Star Wars.\u00a0\u201cThis is where the deals go down,\u201d\u00a0Michnovetz\u00a0confirms.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0Episode I, 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,\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0seen his pain \u2014 and his hate \u2014 and come to understand him as a uniquely tortured being…<\/p>\n

The real\u00a0food for thought\u00a0with\u00a0Maul: Shadow Lord\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0only the prospect of learning how its demon-faced protagonist seizes power in a Mid Rim criminal underworld:\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the promise of a deeper dive into one of Star Wars\u2019 most compelling figures. In\u00a0Episode I, 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,\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0seen 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

\u201cHe\u2019s a complicated guy,\u201d says Rau.\u00a0The director teases that there\u2019s \u201cthe potential for vulnerability\u201d in Maul that viewers \u201cshould watch out for\u201d in\u00a0Shadow Lord.\u00a0Lest we forget, by the end of the Clone Wars, Maul\u2019s list of losses runs to\u00a0*deep breath*\u00a0his childhood, his master, his mind, his family, his morality (if he ever had any), his criminal empire, his\u00a0dignity\u00a0and\u00a0his legs. Hell, he even lost his \u2018Darth\u2019! That\u2019s\u00a0a vulnerable position for anyone to find themself in \u2014\u00a0double-ended laser sword or not.<\/p>\n

\"Maul<\/p>\n

These deeper depths and new shades of the\u00a0Dathomirian\u00a0have clearly been on\u00a0Michnovetz\u2019s\u00a0mind, too. Shadow Lord shows Maul in different lights, conducting Cassius Tea ceremonies as well as\u00a0saber-kebabbing mobsters\u00a0in the neo-noir underworld of\u00a0Janix.\u00a0\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,\u00a0any path taken through the Dark Side casts a long and looming shadow. \u201cThis is also a cautionary tale,\u201d teases\u00a0Michnovetz. \u201cMaul\u2019s\u00a0a tragic figure, doomed to repeat his mistakes.\u00a0He’s\u00a0stubborn, but because of that\u00a0he’s\u00a0also a survivor, so you\u2019ve\u00a0gotta\u00a0give him that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And give him that,\u00a0you do\u00a0gotta.\u00a0When we\u00a0meet Maul\u00a0in\u00a0Shadow Lord,\u00a0the horned Houdini\u2019s\u00a0not long\u00a0escaped\u00a0the clutches of the Jedi\u00a0and\u00a0the Sith amid the chaos of Order 66, fleeing for the\u00a0badlands\u00a0of the Mid Rim in a stolen shuttle. Now, around a year or so post-Order 66,\u00a0it’s\u00a0a 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\u00a0Janix, out of sight of the Empire, where he\u00a0plans to\u00a0fan the flames of a turf\u00a0war to seize power while his underworld rivals take each other out;\u00a0as long as\u00a0the Imperials\u00a0don’t\u00a0catch him first.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re following him through these efforts to achieve\u00a0all\u00a0these crazy goals,\u201d says\u00a0Michnovetz\u00a0of Maul\u2019s burgeoning Janix operation.\u00a0\u201cLike Palpatine, he has a meticulous plan.\u00a0But\u00a0let\u2019s\u00a0just say he hits a lot more snags than his old master.\u00a0He’s\u00a0got to adapt and change, and I think\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0where the fun and real excitement of the show lies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, amid all the\u00a0plotting and scheming\u00a0and\u00a0strategising,\u00a0you\u2019ll\u00a0still get the Maul\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0known and loved since\u00a0Episode I\u2019s \u2018Duel\u00a0Of\u00a0The\u00a0Fates\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\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0time then for Maul to deliver\u00a0some serious double-ended street justice.\u00a0Yeah,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0thinkin\u2019 the\u00a0Zabrak\u2019s\u00a0back.<\/p>\n

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

<\/p>\n

Right at the heart of\u00a0Shadow Lord\u00a0\u2013\u00a0as he has been at the heart of all things Maul ever since the character\u2019s 2012\u00a0Clone Wars\u00a0return\u00a0\u2013\u00a0is Sam Witwer. Peter Serafinowicz gave\u00a0Maul\u2019s\u00a0first\u00a0Episode I words life. Ray Park gave the\u00a0Dathomirian\u2019s\u00a0physicality and ferocity form. But it is Witwer \u2014 affectionally referred to by both Rau and\u00a0Michnovetz\u00a0as their \u201cJedi Master\u201d\u00a0on this show\u00a0\u2014 who has dedicated himself to\u00a0the character\u00a0for the last fourteen years.<\/p>\n

Bringing menace, weight, seduction, and all-timer line reads (\u201cKenobayyyy!\u201d)\u00a0to the role, Witwer has been constantly reframing our understanding of Maul ever since\u00a0The Clone Wars\u00a0found 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\u00a0Witwer\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

It\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0hurt that Witwer is joined in\u00a0Shadow Lord\u00a0by 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\u00a0Heat-like game of cat-and-mouse with\u00a0Janix\u00a0cop Captain Brander Lawson (The Secret Agent\u00a0Oscar-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

\"Maul<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s young Jedi-on-the-run Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon) and her diminutive master\u00a0Eeko-Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert),\u00a0who find themselves involuntarily pulled into Maul\u2019s\u00a0orbit. Like Maul, Devon and\u00a0Eeko-Dio have lost everything because of Palpatine. And like Maul, both find themselves hiding out from the Empire on\u00a0Janix\u00a0(fans are already theorising whether the\u00a0Twi\u2019lek\u00a0will eventually become\u00a0old-canon favourite Sith apprentice Darth Talon).\u00a0If experience has taught us anything though,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0that whenever Maul takes interest in making a young Force user his new apprentice, the teaching invariably flows in both directions \u2014 and things get\u00a0very\u00a0complicated, very\u00a0quickly. Just ask Ahsoka Tano or Ezra Bridger.<\/p>\n

\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

Whether\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0a card-carrying Maul-head,\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0been following Maul\u2019s story since\u00a0Episode I, or see the name and think\u00a0somebody\u2019s\u00a0just misspelt a shopping centre,\u00a0Shadow Lord\u00a0is designed to\u00a0welcome 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\u00a0Michnovetz.<\/p>\n

So yes,\u00a0Maul: Shadow Lord\u00a0is a\u00a0Star Wars\u00a0show. It\u00a0is\u00a0a Dark Side show. But\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0also a crime series, a mob drama, a pulp fiction about bad guys and worse guys as heavily influenced by the\u00a0aforementioned\u00a0Heat\u00a0\u2014\u00a0and\u00a0The Untouchables, and Raymond Chandler\u2019s Marlowe mysteries\u00a0\u2014\u00a0as George Lucas\u2019 own\u00a0THX-1138 and Ralph McQuarrie’s OG trilogy sketches.<\/p>\n

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

As ever with Maul,\u00a0it seems his rise\u00a0to the top of the galaxy\u2019s criminal underworld\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0be straightforward.\u00a0Michnovetz\u00a0teases some\u00a0\u201cpretty crazy stuff\u201d in store;\u00a0we\u00a0may\u00a0know how and when Maul\u2019s story ends,\u00a0but\u00a0that\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0mean we know the whole story. \u201cWe know Maul\u2019s fate,\u201d he\u00a0states,\u00a0promising \u201csome zigs and zags that you’re not expecting, 100 percent.\u201d Plus, of course,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0worth remembering that the survival of any supporting players isn\u2019t guaranteed. As\u00a0Michnovetz\u00a0reminds us of the show\u2019s\u00a0new faces, \u201cwe don’t know their fate or their timelines.\u201d<\/p>\n

In time,\u00a0Shadow Lord\u00a0will\u00a0complete the story of Maul\u00a0\u2014 but this chapter\u00a0is only just beginning.\u00a0Season 2 is already in the works<\/a> at Lucasfilm Animation, and\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0still much to explore before we discover how Maul came to pop up in\u00a0Solo. \u201cJust wait \u2018til you see where this goes,\u201d\u00a0says\u00a0Michnovetz.\u00a0As\u00a0Episode I\u00a0taught us all those years ago, you\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0keep a good Maul down.<\/p>\n

Star Wars: Maul \u2014 Shadow Lord begins streaming on Disney+ from April 6.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Looking like the Devil himself and rocking a badass double-ended\u00a0lightsaber, Darth Maul\u00a0entered\u00a0The Phantom Menace\u00a0as one of\u00a0Star Wars\u2019\u00a0coolest villains.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":376276,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[146,85,46,397],"class_list":{"0":"post-376275","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-israel","11":"tag-movies"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=376275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/376275\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/376276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=376275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=376275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=376275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}