There’s a world where Darth Maul’s story ended in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace… you know, which is what usually happens when someone gets cut in half. In our world, though, Maul survived Obi-Wan Kenobi’s bisection and has continued to thrive in many other Star Wars stories. The latest of the bunch is the Disney+ subscription-exclusive series Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord, which premieres on the 2026 TV schedule next week. And yet, despite the popularity he’s enjoyed for nearly 30 years, the Shadow Lord executive producers opened up to CinemaBlend about why it’s difficult to give Maul his own upcoming Star Wars TV show.
During my interview with EPs Athena Yvette Portillo, Brad Rau and Matt Michnovetz, with the latter two serving as Supervising Director and Head Writer, respectively, I asked them if it’s challenging at all crafting a TV show around Maul to paint him a protagonist light without losing his core dark traits. Rau responded with the following:
Yeah, definitely challenging, something that we talk about all the time, every episode, every scene, in the script phase, in the design, all the way through the whole show. And we feel if we're doing it right, we did not wanna pull the fangs out of all, we didn't wanna dull his horns. He is definitely a bad guy in this show. So to make sure that we weren't making it too dark, that's where the pulpy noir style came in. So Heat and Dark Knight, a little Gotham City in Janix really helped us to keep the action pulpy and heroic without getting too dark, without making Maul into some kind of good guy. He's not, he's a bad guy.
Star Wars has been jumping back and forth along the franchise timeline with telling Maul’s story ever since he was brought back into play in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Shadow Lord picks up one year after previous show’s series finale, when the Empire is now ruling the galaxy far, far away with an iron fist. Maul is trying to rebuild his criminal syndicate that collapsed when he was overthrown by the Republic, Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze’s forces, so like Brad Rau said, he is very much not in the good guy category, nor does he ever go there.
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But this is still a show where Maul is the main character, meaning it becomes a tricky balancing act of continuing to depict him as a ruthless former Sith Lord, yet not make him too unlikable since the audience has to remain invested in his journey. That style infusing influences like Heat and The Dark Knight proved to be just the solution for Athena Yvette Portillo, Brad Rau, Matt Michnovetz and the rest of Shadow Lord’s creative team.
Thanks to Star Wars Rebels, we know how Maul’s story ends, but I’m looking forward to seeing how Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord fills in some of the gaps between then and where The Clone Wars left off with him. I’m especially eager to learn how he becomes the head of Crimson Dawn, which was revealed when he cameoed in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Shadow Lord premieres Monday, April 6, and Disney+ has already renewed the show for another season, so we’ll be seeing a lot more of Maul slicing up anyone who stands in the way of achieving his illicit goals.
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