Darth Maul is finally getting his own Star Wars series
He's back... again
Darth Maul is officially back, rage issues and all. Disney has released the first teaser for Star Wars: MaulShadow Lord, a brand-new animated spin-off focused entirely on one of the franchise’s most enduring characters, with the series set to premiere on the 6th of April 2026 on Disney+.
Originally announced at Star Wars Celebration 2025, the 10-episode series is set after Maul’s arc in The Clone Wars and before his final appearance in Star Wars: Rebels, filling in a crucial gap in his increasingly complicated timeline. This time, Maul isn’t lurking in the shadows of someone else’s story; he's the main man.
According to Lucasfilm, Shadow Lord follows Maul as he attempts to rebuild his shattered criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire. In the process, he crosses paths with a disillusioned young Jedi Padawan who may become the apprentice he’s been searching for, all while continuing his long, obsessive pursuit of revenge.
The teaser suggests a notably darker tone than most animated Star Wars outings, with Maul operating in full manipulation mode while being hunted by the Emperor and the Inquisitors. Visually and thematically, it looks closer to Andor than The Clone Wars, leaning into violence, moral rot and criminal power struggles rather than Saturday-morning adventure.
Longtime fans will be pleased to hear that Sam Witwer is once again voicing Maul, a role he’s owned since The Clone Wars. The wider voice cast includes Gideon Adlon, Wagner Moura, Richard Ayoade, Dennis Haysbert, Alison Brie, Vanessa Marshall and Steve Blum, among others, with characters spanning Jedi survivors, criminals and Imperial hunters.
Like most of Lucasfilm’s best-regarded animated projects, Maul Shadow Lord comes from Dave Filoni, co-creator of The Clone Wars and Rebels, and now President and Chief Creative Officer at Lucasfilm. Developed alongside Matt Michnovetz and overseen by Bad Batch director Brad Rau, the series continues Filoni’s habit of expanding existing Star Wars lore rather than pushing the timeline forward.
That approach feels increasingly deliberate. Since wrapping up the sequel trilogy in 2019, Lucasfilm has struggled to define the franchise’s future, with multiple film projects stalling while animated spin-offs and Mandalorian-adjacent stories have remained the most consistent output. Shadow Lord fits neatly into that pattern, deepening familiar corners of the galaxy rather than charting new ones.
Star Wars: Maul Shadow Lord will premiere with two episodes on 6 April, followed by two episodes a week until 6 May. Love him or hate him, Maul’s unlikely survival story isn’t over yet, and this might be the darkest chapter so far.
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