| Star Wars:Maul – Shadow Lord | |
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| Created by | Dave Filoni |
| Based on | Star Wars byGeorge Lucas |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
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| Network | Disney+ |
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| Star Wars: The Clone Wars | |
Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is an upcoming American animated television series created byDave Filoni for the streaming serviceDisney+. It is part of theStar Wars franchise, taking place after the events ofStar Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020), and follows formerSith lordMaul during the reign of theGalactic Empire.
Sam Witwer voices Maul, reprising his role fromThe Clone Wars and otherStar Wars media, withGideon Adlon,Wagner Moura, andRichard Ayoade also providing voices.Maul – Shadow Lord was announced in April 2025, a year after Witwer joined to provide insight on the character as well as his voice. The series is produced byLucasfilm Animation, with Matt Michnovetz ashead writer, Brad Rau assupervising director, and Filoni, Michnovetz, Rau, Athena Yvette Portillo, Carrie Beck, and Josh Rimes as executive producers. It tells aserialized story and explores questions about Maul that Filoni and Witwer discussed while working on previous series. The animation, provided byCGCG, Inc. and Lucasfilm Animation's internal team, has a similar style toThe Clone Wars but is more stylized, reflecting Maul's character and the setting of the planet Janix.
The 10-episode series is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on April 6, 2026, with two episodes being released each week until May 4.
Around a year after theClone Wars,[1] formerSith lordMaul rebuilds his criminal syndicate and seeks a new apprentice on the planet Janix during the reign of theGalactic Empire.[2][3]
Steward Lee returned as an episodic director from previousStar Wars animated series.[4] The 10-episode series is scheduled to premiere on April 6, 2026, with two episodes being released each week until May 4.[3]
Additional cast members includeDennis Haysbert as Master Eeko-Dio-Daki;Chris Diamantopoulos as Looti Vario; Charlie Bushnell as Rylee Lawson;Vanessa Marshall as Rook Kast, one of Maul'sMandalorian allies from the Clone Wars; David W. Collins as Spybot;A. J. LoCascio as Marrok, a Jedi-huntingInquisitor; andSteve Blum as Icarus.[3] The Eleventh Brother, another Inquisitor, also appears in the series.[9]
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WhenStar Wars: The Bad Batch (2021–2024), a spin-off from the animated seriesStar Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020), came to an end,supervising director Brad Rau hinted that another continuation of the "Clone Wars universe" was in development.[10] During a panel celebrating the 20th anniversary ofLucasfilm Animation atStar Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025,Lucasfilm chief creative officerDave Filoni and animation vice president Athena Yvette Portillo announced the studio's next animated series to beStar Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, focused on theStar Wars characterMaul. Introduced in the filmStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Maul was originally portrayed physically byRay Park and voiced byPeter Serafinowicz. The character was presumed dead until he was brought back inThe Clone Wars voiced bySam Witwer, who reprised the role in the follow-up animated seriesStar Wars Rebels (2014–2018) and the live-action filmSolo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Witwer was confirmed to be returning forMaul – Shadow Lord during the Celebration panel.[5][11]
While working on the previousStar Wars animated series, Witwer and Filoni—the supervising director forThe Clone Wars and the first two seasons ofRebels—discussed different ideas about Maul that Filoni felt would be better explored in his own project.[6] Filoni began work onMaul – Shadow Lord after Lucasfilm Animation staff returned to work following theCOVID-19 pandemic,[7] and was joined by many creatives from the previous series including Rau as supervising director and Matt Michnovetz ashead writer.[4] Witwer was brought onto the series a year before it was announced, and was more closely involved in development than with the previous series, discussing the character,[12] reviewing scripts,[1] and providing input on early animation.[7] Witwer described Rau as Filoni's "apprentice" and explained that Filoni created the series but had more of an oversight role where he would only be involved with day-to-day production at rare times.[4] Filoni is credited as creator, co-developer with Michnovetz, and executive producer with Michnovetz, Rau, Portillo, Carrie Beck, and Josh Rimes.[3]
The series takes place around a year after Maul's defeat at the hands ofAhsoka Tano at the end of theClone Wars, as depicted in thefinal season ofThe Clone Wars. This is years before Maul's story comes to an end during the events ofRebels.[1][13]Maul – Shadow Lord tells aserialized, 10-episode story which Michnovetz described as fast-paced and action-packed. He felt Maul was the perfect character to "drive us through" such a story. The writers included homages to the classic film serials which inspiredStar Wars creatorGeorge Lucas.[3]
Witwer said the series finds Maul "dusting himself off a bit" following the end of the Clone Wars and during the beginning of theGalactic Empire's reign.[1][6] Witwer and the crew reviewed the character's previous appearances to ensure they were exploring questions about him that had not been answered before—including some that Witwer already knew the answer to—such as: why did Maul not reveal that his former masterPalpatine was secretly aSith lord, seemingly remaining loyal to Palpatine despite being discarded and replaced;[13] how does a character who is "from a time of knights and magic" feel about the Empire "sucking the magic and life and color out of the galaxy";[4] how does he feel about the destruction of theJedi Order, his life-long enemy, which Witwer compared to theJoker fromDC Comics living on after the death ofBatman;[14] and how does Maul's approach to training an apprentice differ from how Palpatine and other Sith have trained apprentices in the past?[6] Witwer described the series as "bad guys versus worse guys",[13] and said they would not try to redeem Maul.[14] Rau said even Witwer was surprised by some of the new aspects they were discovering about the character. Witwer used hisStar Wars knowledge to bring depth and authenticity to Maul, and to help introduce the other cast members to the franchise.[3]
Michnovetz explained that the series is set on the planet Janix, which features a city inside a crater. He compared it to bothGotham City andMetropolis from DC Comics, with a functioning democracy and law enforcement that has formed a "peaceful accord" with local criminals and gangsters. It features "different levels and layers" like previousStar Wars cities. Maul decides to rebuild his criminal syndicate on Janix because it is untouched by the Empire, although the Empire is gaining power throughout the galaxy and appears in the series through the Jedi-huntingInquisitors. Michnovetz described them as "secret mercenaries that show up out of the darkness".[3]
Sam Witwer was confirmed to be reprising his role as Maul with the series' announcement.[5] He suggested that sound designer David W. Collins could have a role in the series, similar to how Collins voiced thedroidPROXY in the video gameStar Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008) which starred Witwer as Galen Marek / Starkiller.[4] Further cast members were announced in January 2026, with the main cast includingGideon Adlon as Maul's new apprentice Devon Izara,Wagner Moura as police detective Brander Lawson, andRichard Ayoade as Lawson's droid partner "Two-Boots".[3] Ayoade previously voiced the droidQ9-0 or "Zero" in the live-actionStar Wars seriesThe Mandalorian (2019–2023).[9] Other cast members include Collins as Spybot,Vanessa Marshall reprising her role as Rook Kast fromThe Clone Wars,Dennis Haysbert as Master Eeko-Dio-Daki,Chris Diamantopoulos as Looti Vario,Charlie Bushnell as Rylee Lawson,Steve Blum as Icarus, andA. J. LoCascio as the Inquisitor Marrok.[3][9] Marrok was introduced with a non-speaking role in thefirst season of the live-action seriesAhsoka (2023), where he was physically portrayed by Paul Darnell.[9][15] Another Inquisitor, the Eleventh Brother, also appears in the series. He was voiced byClancy Brown in the animated seriesStar Wars: Tales of the Jedi (2022).[9]
As with the previousStar Wars animated series, the animation was provided byCGCG, Inc. and Lucasfilm Animation's internal team.[3] Key creatives returned from previous Lucasfilm Animation projects, including animation supervisor Keith Kellogg, cinematography and effects lead Joel Aron, and sound designer David W. Collins.[4] Portillo said the crew improved all aspects of their work compared to the previous series, including the quality of assets, body mechanics, facial animation, lighting, effects, andmatte paintings, even when compared to their most recent work onThe Bad Batch andStar Wars: Tales of the Underworld (2025).[3][7] She attributed the improvements to Filoni challenging 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.[7]
The series features a similar animation style toThe Clone Wars and the other previous series, but is more stylized to reflect its focus on Maul and the "gritty" setting of the planet Janix.[3][12] Filoni described the style as "in thatClone Wars world, but a little bit more extreme". Witwer called it "more edgy and jagged and dangerous",[12] and said Aron was giving the series "painterly malice and thick shadows and reds and purples and all kinds of incredible lighting".[4] Aron took inspiration from classic filmmaking techniques to include physical elements in the series, including painting brush strokes on glass and photographing them so they could be inserted into the animation, and creating matte paintings on physical canvases rather than making them with digital tools. Kellogg worked with the animators at CGCG and Lucasfilm to improve the performances of the lead characters. Portillo stated that Witwer influenced the nuances in Maul's performance, and gave as an example atea ceremony Maul conducts with Devon. This was based on a tea ceremony that Witwer took part in while in Japan.[3]
ComposersSean and Deana Kiner returned from previousStar Wars animated series. They finished composing the score for the final episode and were ready to record it in late January 2026.[16][better source needed]
A trailer for the series was shown to attendees atStar Wars Celebration Japan's Lucasfilm Animation 20th anniversary panel in April 2025.[11] Jordan King ofEmpire praised the animation as "gorgeously rendered", positively comparing it to the final season ofThe Clone Wars andThe Bad Batch.[17] Sarah El-Mahmoud atCinemaBlend 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 seenStar Wars fans lose their minds" during Celebration Japan.[12] The appearance of Maul's apprentice led to speculation that she is the characterDarth Talon from theExpanded Universe comic book seriesStar Wars: Legacy (2006–2010) byJohn Ostrander andJan Duursema.[8][17]Total Film's Anthony McGlynn felt it was unlikely that Lucasfilm would introduce aTwi'lek apprentice for Maul who was not Talon.[8]
The first public teaser trailer was released online in January 2026, alongside a poster and key details about the series.[3] King praised the animation, the design of Janix, and the dialogue heard in the teaser, saying "it's all deliciously brooding and distinctly Maulian stuff".[18] Vanessa Armstrong atReactor described the teaser as "dramatic, dark, and compellingly watchable",[19] while Aimee Hart atPolygon said it was a triumphant return for Maul.[20] Commentators again discussed the potential for Devon to actually be Darth Talon.[18][20][21]
Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is scheduled to premiere on the streaming serviceDisney+ on April 6, 2026. It consists of 10 episodes. Two episodes are being released each week untilStar Wars Day on May 4.[3]
A five-issue prequel comic book series titledStar Wars: Shadow of Maul is set to be published byMarvel Comics in March 2026. Written byBenjamin Percy with art by Madibek Musabekov, both returning from previous MarvelStar Wars comics, the comic introduces the planet Janix and the characters Brander Lawson and Two-Boots ahead of their key roles inMaul – Shadow Lord. Percy and Musabekov were able to read scripts and see episodes of the series while working on the comic. Percy said it was both ascience fiction story and acrime story, with anoir tone that matched Musabekov's art style.[22]
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