‘Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord’ Review: Noir Among The Stars

This review is based on the first eight episodes of Maul – Shadow Lord.

Twenty-seven years ago, Darth Maul got sliced in half in The Phantom Menace. Fourteen years ago, he made his triumphant return in The Clone Wars animated series. Nine years ago he died in Rebels. But now, he is back once more in his very own new animated inbetweenquel, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord. 

Set between the finale of The Clone Wars and his cameo appearance in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Maul – Shadow Lord finds the titular Maul (Sam Witwer) shut out from his position as top dog in the criminal underworld. Looking to regain some of his former power, Maul finds himself with his crew on the neon city planet of Janix. Unfortunately for Maul, a local law enforcement member named Brander Lawson (Wagner Moura) is hot on his trail. Another curveball thrown into the mix is the presence of a Jedi named Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon) and her master Eeko-Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert), who are taking refuge on the planet due to its lack of Imperial presence.

First and foremost, the show looks incredible visually. The Lucasfilm Animation team have taken the style they’ve been using since The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch and brought it to a whole other level. The painterly backdrops are drop dead gorgeous, and bring a new level of texture to the planet of Janix. The lightsaber fights are all very well done and are sure to become the highlights of the series for many fans.

On the story side of things, I found the main plot to be very intriguing. Maul at times doesn’t feel like the main character of this Maul series, as Wagner Moura’s Brander Lawson and Jedi Devon Izara often take on more of a central role. This may disappoint some fans, but I found Lawson to be a great point-of-view character to follow and it’s really fun to watch him play this game of cat and mouse with Maul. 

Devon Izara is also one of the more interesting Jedi Purge survivors and her relationship to her master, Daki, feels fresh as we have never really gotten a surviving master and padawan put to screen. Maul himself obviously still does play a central part and the show definitely digs deep into what drives him, but the other two stand out more to me as the main leads.

For the first time ever, an animated Star Wars series really feels streamlined. Maul – Shadow Lord doesn’t spend any time on side quests and uses its runtime very well, which means fans won’t feel like the plot is treading water week-to-week. This was a very welcome change of pace, in my opinion and I hope the franchise follows this format more moving forward.

Overall I found Maul – Shadow Lord to be one of the best entries into the Star Wars television era. Offering some great new characters, beautiful environments and character animation, and an intriguing layered story. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how the final two episodes wrap things up, and I am really glad they have already announced that a second season is in production.

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is now streaming on Disney+ and stars Sam Witwer, Wagner Moura, Gideon Adlon, Richard Ayode, and more. The series was created by Lucasfilm CEO Dave Filoni.

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