Last month, I was fortunate enough to attend Star Wars Celebration Japan with fellow contributors Iain and Lily K (which you can read about here). The event was a blur of Star Wars goodness and was a whirlwind of fun. One of the highlights of the weekend was the Lucasfilm Animation 20th Anniversary panel, which was an impulse decision on the day. It was neat to hear about the creative process behind all of the animated Star Wars series I adore.
At the end of the panel, after going over the past and present of Lucasfilm Animation, we were treated to a trailer of the next project for Star Wars Animation, and I was left in awe. We got to see the first trailer for Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord! And now that I’ve taken some time to recover from the mind-boggling reveal, I can finally put into words how excited I am for this upcoming series.
The plot of this new series looks to be about the formation of Maul’s criminal empire, which we see in Solo. This was all but confirmed by Sam Witwer (the voice of Maul) in an interview where he said that the series takes place one year after the events of Revenge of the Sith. I was leaning more towards it being post-Solo because Maul’s horns looked quite long, which they weren’t during that film. But he also has his lightsaber from The Clone Wars, so it checks out. The trailer showcased Maul in various situations, including conducting shady deals with other criminals, and his interactions with the Mandalorian, Rook Kast, who was one of his subordinates when he ruled Mandalore. This means that he may still have some supporters, but he’ll definitely need to make new friends.
This is where the currently unnamed red Twilek, who appears to be Maul’s new apprentice, comes into play. The trailer didn’t give away much about who this girl is, but her future ain’t looking too bright if the fate of Maul’s other apprentice is anything to go by. The trailer didn’t give much else away in terms of the story, but I am very curious about how it will connect to Solo and his appearance in The Bad Batch. Maybe we’ll finally get to see some more Maul and Qira interactions.
As soon as I realised the trailer was for a Maul series, the first thought that went through my mind was, Is Sam Witwer back? This question was immediately answered when Maul started speaking, and that oh so familiar voice reverberated throughout the auditorium. Witwer still sounds incredible as Maul from the small snippets we got in the trailer, and I’m so keen to get a full series of him as the main character. Witwer even appeared on stage after the trailer finished to say, “play it again.” We didn’t get to hear much of the rest of the cast as the trailer was mostly narrated by Maul, so it’ll be interesting to see who they bring on and who makes a return (Hondo cameo maybe? Or young Han Solo, perhaps?)
The animation in the trailer was, without a doubt, the best I’ve seen from Lucasfilm Animation. It looked breathtakingly gorgeous, and all the little details looked immaculate. The wind blowing Maul’s cloak as he exited the ship, the lightsaber ignition, the lighting, and even the character models, all looked perfect. And that’s just when the characters were standing still, because we even got to see some glimpses of action, and they looked even better. Think the quality of the last four episodes of The Clone Wars and times that by 10; that’s what this series is gonna be every episode (based on this trailer). I’m especially looking forward to anything with lightsabers because I’ll reiterate, they looked fucking sick!
Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord was the surprise of Star Wars Celebration, and I can’t wait for it to drop in 2026. I doubt we’ll get much news over the next few months, but I’ll be eagerly awaiting anything from my now most anticipated show of 2026!
Are you excited for Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord? Have any theories? Any characters you want to show up? Let us know in the comments where we can talk about everything Maul.
