Star Wars’ next TV show, Maul: Shadow Lord, is breaking a mᴀssive George Lucas-era rule. Announced at Star Wars Celebration 2025, Maul: Shadow Lord will follow the Sith apprentice turned crime lord as he builds his criminal empire under the Empire’s watchful and oppressive gaze, tying into Maul’s resurrected storyline in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and his brief, holographic cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

As we know from Maul’s (Sam Witwer) time in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, the Dathomirian Force-user was always on the hunt for an apprentice of his own; Maul: Shadow Lord will introduce audiences to Star Wars Legends character Darth Talon as Maul’s mentee. Shadow Lord has noticeably been inspired by George Lucas’ original Star Wars sequel vision, which would likewise have followed Maul’s exploits in the criminal underworld.

Though we don’t know how closely Shadow Lord’s specific plot beats would have matched Lucas’ ideas for Maul, the animated show’s premiere will break a mᴀssive Star Wars rule – one that Lucas was seemingly hoping to break himself before he sold the franchise to Disney.

The New Darth Maul Show Is The First One To Star A Villain

Maul: Shadow Lord will be the first mainline Star Wars production, animated or live-action, to feature a villain as its central “protagonist.” While Star Wars is famous for its villains – Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Grand Moff Tarkin, Kylo Ren, Count Dooku, General Grievous, the Nihil’s Marchion Ro, Grand Admiral Thrawn, the Inquisitors, and countless others – they’ve never been the sole, central focus before.

Even anthology shows like Star Wars: Tales have never studied the Star Wars galaxy’s villains during their darkest phases. Tales of the Empire featured Barriss Offee and Morgan Elsbeth, victims of circumstance more than outright villains. Tales of the Jedi showed us Count Dooku’s turn, but he was still a Jedi at the time. Tales of the Underworld gave us Cad Bane’s backstory before he became a bounty hunter.

Even The Book of Boba Fett, which featured one of Star Wars’ most iconic bounty hunters, a bounty hunter who worked for Darth Vader, no less, didn’t portray Boba as an outright villain. His experience in the Sarlacc Pit, his partnership with Fennec Shand, and his time with Din Djarin in The Mandalorian changed him.

Shadow Lord is different, however. We already know Maul will never be redeemed, as we’ve witnessed his (final, presumably) death in Star Wars Rebels. He was always haunted by power, revenge, and darkness. Maul is a villain through and through. Shadow Lord, therefore, is new territory for Star Wars, and that’s undeniably exciting.

Maul’s Story Is A Chance To Show How Evil The Sith REALLY Are

Maul may be an outright villain, but in Shadow Lord, he’ll be hiding his operations from an even bigger threat: the Sith. Darth Sidious considers Maul a liability – this is made clear when he tries to kill Maul and his brother, Savage (the latter does not survive this encounter), in The Clone Wars season 5, episode 16, “The Lawless.”

Maul’s continued criminal enterprise will no doubt attract the attention of Darth Sidious and his new apprentice, Darth Vader. Whereas in most Star Wars stories, the Sith’s villainy is hidden behind the façade of the Empire, Maul: Shadow Lord may be an opportunity to showcase just how dangerous the Sith truly are.

What if Maul and Sidious go head-to-head once more? What if he finally duels Darth Vader? What if whatever happens in Shadow Lord is what leads Maul to visit (and become stranded on) Malachor in Star Wars Rebels, looking for a weapon to defeat the Sith once and for all?

Is Star Wars Going To Tell More Villain Stories?

With Disney+, there’s an opportunity for Star Wars to expand its repertoire. In a sense, it already has, with shows like Andor, The Mandalorian, and Star Wars: Skeleton Crew exploring different genres and narrative structures with great success. Through Andor, Star Wars has also explored a more mature kind of storytelling, which it could repeat in the future should it decide to dig into Maul’s inner darkness and the horrors of his time with Sidious.

I think it would be exciting for Star Wars to tell more on-screen stories from the villain’s perspective. They’ll have an interesting and more complicated view of the galaxy, the Empire’s regime, and the Sith’s encroaching darkness, a point of view not as black-and-white as Star Wars’ usual heroic fare.

Maul occupies a unique position within Star Wars: he’s both villain and victim, especially where Palpatine is concerned. If Maul: Shadow Lord succeeds and digs into his past and his state of mind more than The Clone Wars and Rebels ever did, there’s every chance we’ll get more in-depth (animated) on-screen stories about Star Wars’ greatest villains.