‘Maul: Shadow Lord’ Will Present the Rise of the Empire From a New Perspective
At Star Wars Celebration Japan earlier this year, Lucasfilm announced that the Star Wars animated universe would continue with the launch of Maul: Shadow Lord in 2026.
Picking up Darth Maul’s story a year after The Clone Wars, the series will focus on the period between the fall of the Republic and the rise of the Empire.
Returning to voice Maul will be Sam Witwer, who has become beloved by the Star Wars fanbase for portraying the fallen Sith Lord in animation.
Photo: Digital Trends
Needless to say, fans are excited.
A New Perspective on the Rise of the Empire
In a recent interview with Katee Sackhoff on The Sackoff Show, Witwer provided insight on the upcoming Maul series.
Previewing Shadow Lord, Witwer explained that the series will explore Maul’s perspective on the culmination of Palpatine’s plan.
“This is a guy who knew that the Empire was coming, and he was part of that,” Witwer explained. “He was supposed to be part of the Clone Wars. He was supposed to work with his master, and they were going to bring about the destruction of the Republic and the destruction of his hated enemy, the Jedi Order.”
A New World
As Palpatine’s rise to power happened without Maul, the former Sith Lord finds himself facing a world that he could never have expected.
Photo: Lucasfilm
“Now the Empire’s here, which Maul would have known that that was his master’s intent. But now that he’s seeing it, he’s like, ‘Is this what he had in mind? Because this isn’t what I thought it would be…’” he continued.
“Maul comes from a time of swords and sorcery and magic and knights. Now all of that color is being sucked out of the universe by this mechanized empire. And Maul’s like, ‘Is this right? Is this the universe that we were trying to build?”
“Bad Guys Versus Worse Guys”
Unlike the route that Disney has taken with many villain-centric shows, Shadow Lord will not try to present Maul as a misunderstood good guy.
“It truly is a show about bad guys versus worse guys. And our bad guys are still bad guys. This isn’t going to be a show where you go, oh, you find out Maul is just a real teddy bear, man. He’s just misunderstood. But the idea is, in fact, that even though he’s a bad guy, is he as bad as Sidious or Vader? And the answer is actually no,” Witwer continued.
“From the Sith perspective, this guy has flaws. And these flaws are… the humanity that seeps in at various points. And some of this is humanity he did not have maybe early in Clone Wars. But because of things that happened to him, he’s rethought a lot of things.”
Photo: Also Variety
I, for one, can’t wait to see the rise of the Empire through the perspective of Maul.
Maul: Shadow Lord will debut on Disney+ in 2026.
