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Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord

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Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord
Genre
Created byDave Filoni
Based onStar Wars
by George Lucas
Voices of
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers
  • Dave Filoni
  • Athena Yvette Portillo
  • Matt Michnovetz
  • Brad Rau
Production companies
Original release
NetworkDisney+
Related
Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is an upcoming American animated television series created by Dave Filoni for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise, taking place after the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020), and follows former Sith lord Maul during the reign of the Galactic Empire.

Sam Witwer voices Maul, reprising his role from The Clone Wars and other Star Wars media. The series was announced in April 2025, a year after Witwer joined to provide insight on the character as well as his voice. A similar animation style to The Clone Wars was used, but with changes to reflect Maul's character. The series is produced by Lucasfilm Animation, with Matt Michnovetz as head writer and Brad Rau as supervising director; Filoni, Michnovetz, and Rau serve as executive producers with Athena Yvette Portillo.

The series is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in 2026.

Premise

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Around a year after the Clone Wars,[1] former Sith lord Maul rebuilds his criminal syndicate and trains a new apprentice during the reign of the Galactic Empire.[2][3]

Episodes

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Steward Lee returned as an episodic director from previous Star Wars animated series.[4]

Cast and characters

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Production

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Development

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During a panel celebrating the 20th anniversary of Lucasfilm Animation at Star Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025, Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni and animation vice president Athena Portillo announced the studio's next animated series to be Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, focused on the Star Wars character Maul. Introduced in the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Maul was originally portrayed physically by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz. The character was presumed dead until he was brought back in the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020) voiced by Sam Witwer, who reprised the role in the follow-up animated series Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018) and the live-action film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Witwer was confirmed to be returning for Maul – Shadow Lord during the Celebration panel.[3][9]

While working on the previous animated series, Witwer and Filoni discussed different ideas about Maul that Filoni felt would be better explored in his own project.[5] Filoni began work on Maul – Shadow Lord after Lucasfilm Animation staff returned to work following the COVID-19 pandemic,[6] with many creatives returning from the previous series including head writer Matt Michnovetz and supervising director Brad Rau.[4] Witwer was brought onto the series a year before it was announced. He was more closely involved in development than with the previous series, having discussions about the character,[10] reviewing scripts,[1] and providing input on early animation.[6] Rau, who was also the supervising director of Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021–2024), previously hinted at the creation of another continuation of the "Clone Wars universe" when discussing the end of The Bad Batch in February 2024.[11] Witwer described Rau as Filoni's "apprentice", and explained that Filoni created the series but he has more of an oversight role where he is only involved with day-to-day production at rare times.[4]

Writing

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The series takes place 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.[1][12] Witwer said the series would find Maul "dusting himself off a bit" and would explore various questions about the character that were not covered by previous projects.[1][5] It was important to Witwer that they review the character's prior appearances and ensure the series reveals new details about him, including aspects that he already considered important which audiences had not picked up on. Questions that the series explores include: why did Maul not reveal that his former master Palpatine was secretly a Sith lord, seemingly remaining loyal to Palpatine despite being discarded and replaced;[12] how does a character who is "from a time of knights and magic" feel about the Galactic Empire, which is "sucking the magic and life and color out of the galaxy";[4] how does he feel about the destruction of the Jedi Order, his life-long enemy, which Witwer compared to the Joker from DC Comics living on after the death of Batman;[13] and how does Maul's approach to training an apprentice differ from how Palpatine and other Sith have trained apprentices in the past?[5] Witwer described the series as "bad guys versus worse guys",[12] and said they would not try to redeem Maul.[13]

Casting

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Sam Witwer was confirmed to be reprising his role as Maul with the series' announcement.[3] He suggested that sound designer David W. Collins could have a role in the series, similar to how Collins voiced the droid PROXY in the video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008) which starred Witwer as Galen Marek / Starkiller.[4] Marrok, an Inquisitor introduced in the first season of the live-action series Ahsoka (2023), appears in the series.[8]

Animation and design

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Animation supervisor Keith Kellogg, cinematography and effects lead Joel Aron, and sound designer David W. Collins all returned from previous Lucasfilm Animation projects.[4] The series features a similar animation style to The Clone Wars and the other previous series, but with some changes to reflect its focus on Maul. Filoni described the style as "in that Clone Wars world, but a little bit more extreme". Witwer called it "more edgy and jagged and dangerous",[10] and said Aron was giving the series "painterly malice and thick shadows and reds and purples and all kinds of incredible lighting".[4] Portillo said Lucasfilm Animation improved all aspects of their work for the series, including assets, body mechanics, facial animation, lighting, effects, and matte paintings, even when compared to their most recent work on The Bad Batch and Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld (2025). She attributed this to Filoni telling the crew to move out of their comfort zones and avoid becoming complacent. Filoni praised the team's work on the series, saying they were "actually creating cinema" with the new episodes.[6]

Marketing

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A trailer for the series was shown to attendees at Star Wars Celebration Japan's Lucasfilm Animation 20th anniversary panel in April 2025.[9] Jordan King of Empire praised the animation as "gorgeously rendered", positively comparing it to the final season of The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch.[8] Sarah El-Mahmoud at CinemaBlend felt the animation quality was "quite a few steps forward" from those series, and said the response to the trailer from attendees was "the most I've seen Star Wars fans lose their minds" during Celebration Japan.[10] The appearance of Maul's apprentice led to speculation that she is the character Darth Talon from the Expanded Universe comic book series Star Wars: Legacy (2006–2010) by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema.[7][8] Total Film's Anthony McGlynn felt it was unlikely that Lucasfilm would introduce a Twi'lek apprentice for Maul who was not Talon.[7]

Release

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Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is scheduled to premiere on the streaming service Disney+ in 2026.[9]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Shafer, Ellise (April 18, 2025). "'Star Wars' Darth Maul Animated Series Coming to Disney+ Next Year, With Sam Witwer Voicing Villain". Variety. Archived from the original on April 18, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  2. ^ "In Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, the Former Sith Returns". StarWars.com. April 18, 2025. Archived from the original on May 21, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d Petski, Denise (April 18, 2025). "'Star Wars' Darth Maul Animated Series Ordered By Disney+; Sam Witwer Returns To Voice Villain". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 18, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Crossan, Ash; Danoff, Owen (April 22, 2025). "Darth Maul Is Having An Existential Crisis In New Star Wars Series Shadow Lord: "How Does He Feel About His Whole Life?"". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on April 22, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  5. ^ a b c d Adams, Tim (April 21, 2025). "Darth Maul Star Teases What Star Wars Fans Can Expect From New Disney+ Series". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on April 21, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d Briscuso, Lex (April 23, 2025). "Lucasfilm Animation VP Goes Deep On Tales of the Underworld and Maul: Shadow Lord: 'An Upgrade of What We're Used To Doing'". IGN. Archived from the original on April 23, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  7. ^ a b c McGlynn, Anthony (April 18, 2025). "Darth Maul's new Star Wars show could see the return of a villain from George Lucas's unused sequel trilogy plans". Total Film. GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on April 18, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  8. ^ a b c d King, Jordan (April 18, 2025). "Maul: Shadow Lord Is The Next Star Wars Animated Series From The Clone Wars And Rebels Team". Empire. Archived from the original on April 18, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  9. ^ a b c Kit, Borys (April 18, 2025). "Star Wars Celebration: Darth Maul Animated Series Coming to Disney+". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 18, 2025. Retrieved April 18, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c El-Mahmoud, Sarah (April 28, 2025). "After Watching Star Wars Fans Lose It When The Maul: Shadow Lord Trailer Dropped At Star Wars Celebration, I Asked The Darth Maul Voice Actor About The 'Edgy' New Series". CinemaBlend. Archived from the original on April 28, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  11. ^ Johnston, Dais (February 15, 2024). "New Star Wars Animated Movie? 'Bad Batch' Showrunners Say "How Could You Say No?"". Inverse. Archived from the original on February 16, 2024. Retrieved February 16, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c Briscuso, Lex (April 22, 2025). "Maul: Shadow Lord Star Sam Witwer Reveals Audiences Will Learn Why Maul Stayed Loyal To Palpatine". IGN. Archived from the original on April 23, 2025. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
  13. ^ a b Sackhoff, Katee (May 6, 2025). "Sam Witwer Returns! + Maul: The Shadow Lord and more 765874 Unification". The Sackhoff Show (Podcast). YouTube. Event occurs at 46:15–1:01:55. Retrieved May 21, 2025.
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