By Dan Skip Allen

Star Wars has been having a bit of a resurgence lately with some live action television shows like The Mandalorian and Andor and some animated series like Rebels, The Bad Batch and now Maul: Shadow Lord. All from the same creator, Dave Filoni. He has developed an animated universe besides the live action Star Wars universe. He was George Lucas ‘s apprentice if you will. He was the chosen one that Lucas wanted to hand the torch down to. Combined with Jon Favreau, they have given me a long-time Star Wars fan. I hope that the future is bright. Maul: Shadow Lord is another step in the right direction. He is one of the few things I’ve liked about the prequels, and I’m not the only one. A lot of people like him. Good thing Filoni is a fan of his as well.

Maul (Sam Witwer) is the leader of a group of men and women known as The Shadow Syndicate. He has started out on a planet called Janix, which is based on a large creator that allows crime syndicates to operate. He stages a heist against one of the syndicates led by Big Boss Demas. This heist is the first of many that Maul organizes as a way to get revenge on these syndicates who betrayed him. A second syndicate led by Vario gets blamed for the first heist. He ends up becoming a prisoner of Maul. All the while, there are authorities that get involved in these heists and the revenge against the syndicates. A police Captain Lawson (Wagner Moura) and his trusty droid 2B00TS (Richard Ayoade) who are trying to figure out what’s going on regarding all of this crime. Added into this story is a Jedi Master Eeko Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert) and his padawan Devan Izara (Gideon Adlon), who Maul is trying to lure into his camp. There are three groups, but they all interact with each other through the entire show.

One of the things I love about Lucasfilm Animation is that the animation style has changed slightly, but it has gotten better with each subsequent series they’ve made. The Clone Wars and Rebels was a brighter, more colorful animation, but with The Batch Batch and now Maul: Shadow Lord, the animation is more grainier, grittier and darker. This style of animation lends itself to these darker shows. They remind me of Star Wars that is set in the 70s where a lot of films were in this style. I love 70s films, and that’s the main reason why I love these two series respectfully. They just suck me into that period.  

Another thing this new Maul show reminded me of were some of my favorite heist films, like Heat,  The Town, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, to name a few. These films made this genre come alive on screen. Heat, in particular, is very similar in town and feel to Maul: Shadow Lord. Especially with the bad guys running from the cops. The Deniro and Pacino characters are very similar to Maul and Captain Lawson. They are playing a cat and mouse game with one another. All the other members of the Shadow Syndicate and the police and Empire are just there to be collateral damage for these two who will stop at nothing to achieve their agendas. It’s great to watch both characters throughout the show.

With a lot of Star Wars films and series, the writers tend to use a popular trope. That is that a band of rag tag individuals join together to fight for a better good or try to achieve some kind of goal. This show does that double fold. Obviously, there is Maul and his Shadow Syndicate with their prisoner, who Looti Vario (Chris Diamantopoulos) becomes a member of their group. This group consists of Mandalorians led by Rook Kast (Venessa Marshall) as well as multiple Dathamirians, Icaras (Steve Blum), and Scorn. The other group is more of a rag tag group led by Captain Lawson, which includes 2B00TS, the two Jedi’s Master Eeko Dio Daki, and his padawan Devan Izara. These two groups specifically are what the show is mainly focused on, and they are all good characters that make the series very worthwhile to watch.

The series has ten episodes Chapter 1: The Dark Revenge, Chapter 2: Sinister Schemes, Chapter 3: Whispers in the Unknown, Chapter 4: Pride and Vengeance, Chapter 5: Inquisition, Chapter 6: Night of the Hunter, Chapter 7: Call to Oblivion, Chapter 8: Creeping Fear, Chapter 9: Strange Allies and Chapter 10: Finale. I was only able to see 8 of the 10 episodes and Chapter 8 left off with a cliffhanger, just as so many of the other episodes had. I think having to wait to see the final two episodes will be worth the wait. The series has set up the two factions with the Empire in between them quite well. By the last couple of episodes, I’m sure there will be some death and destruction. Not everyone will come out alive.

A lot of Star Wars has been connected in one way or another over the years. Maul, as a character, has been in the films, The Phantom Menace, The Clone Wars Animated Series, and now his own animated show. He has even popped up in Solo: A Star Wars Story in a cameo. It’s one of the pluses of a galaxy far, far away, and also the minuses. Filoni knows the Star Wars timelines or, as they call it, the G timeline for Galactic Timeline. He knows where each of the characters he’s implementing into his shows fit and what he can do with them. Maul is a tricky character in this regard. Because he’s appeared all over the place. Connecting the dots is fun sometimes in Star Wars lore. Other times, I can be a bit hazardous to one’s health. With this fan base, things can go wrong. I will say so far they are going great, though.

There are a lot of reasons why I love Star Wars. One of them is lightsaber fights. This series has a handful of them involving Maul and the Jedi characters, but there are also a couple of Inquisitors who show up and fight on behalf of the Emperor and Empire as a whole. These fights are choreographed masterfully. This is why Stars Wars is one of the greatest franchises. Characters that can do this type of fighting are very entertaining to me. I loved all of the duals and battles that involved laser swords as they are sometimes called. Filoni knows his bread and butter. Throw in a couple of great chase sequences, and you have one of the best, if not the best, Star Wars animated shows to date. I can’t wait for the  last two episodes. They need to bring this story home.

“Maul: Shadow Lord is everything I hoped it would be. It’s Star Wars on the level of The Mandalorian Seasons 1 & 2, Andor Seasons 1 & 2, and The Bad Batch. The look and feel of the animation brought me back to the era of the 70s. The gritty dirty style of animation is what I loved about the series the most. Maul is one of my favorite Star Wars characters. Sam Witwer has taken the ball from Ray Park and ran with it for a touchdown. To use a popular football reference. This character is still a bad ass all these years after his first appearance in “The Phantom Menace”. The other characters are well voiced by a terrific cast of voice actors and fleshed out extremely well. I genuinely believe this is on par if not better than the best Star Wars Disney has produced since buying Lucasfilm Ltd 14 years ago. I stand by that. Hopefully, other fans will feel the same way that I do.

8/10 Episodes Reviewed Streaming on Disney + April 6th, 2026

 4 ½ stars