Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is an American animated television series created by Dave Filoni for the streaming service Disney+. It is part of the Star Wars franchise, taking place after the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020), and follows former Sith lord Maul during the reign of the Galactic Empire.
Sam Witwer voices Maul, reprising his role from The Clone Wars and other Star Wars media. Maul – Shadow Lord was announced in April 2025, a year after Witwer joined to provide insight on the character as well as his voice. The series is produced by Lucasfilm Animation, with Matt Michnovetz as head writer, Brad Rau as supervising director, and Filoni, Michnovetz, Rau, Athena Yvette Portillo, Carrie Beck, and Josh Rimes as executive producers. It tells a serialized story and explores questions about Maul that Filoni and Witwer discussed while working on previous series. The animation, provided by CGCG, Inc. and Lucasfilm Animation's internal team, has a similar style to The Clone Wars but is more stylized, reflecting Maul's character and the setting of the planet Janix.
The 10-episode first season premiered on Disney+ on April 6, 2026, with two episodes released each week until May 4. A second season is set to premiere in 2027.
Premise Around a year after the Clone Wars, former Sith lord Maul rebuilds his criminal syndicate and seeks a new apprentice on the planet Janix during the reign of the Galactic Empire.
Cast and characters Starring Sam Witwer as Maul:A former Sith lord from the planet Dathomir who is trying to find his place following the end of the Clone Wars. Witwer said the series explores a lot of questions about the character and is told from his perspective. He added that the character has relatable feelings but does not have "the tools to express those. All he has in front of him are supervillain tools." Witwer compared this to the character Gollum from J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings (1954–55). Executive producer Athena Yvette Portillo described Maul as a "seemingly eternal villain" similar to Michael Myers from the Halloween franchise and Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th franchise. Witwer also provided the voices for Darth Sidious, the Emperor and Maul's former Sith master; and young Savage Opress, Maul's brother.
Recurring Introduced in other Star Wars media Vanessa Marshall as Rook Kast: One of Maul's Mandalorian allies from the Clone Wars A. J. LoCascio as Marrok: A Jedi-hunting Inquisitor known as the First Brother
Introduced in season one Chris Diamantopoulos as Looti Vario:A fast-talking Aleena crime lord who betrayed Maul. Vario uses a mechanical suit to make up for his small stature, which Diamantopoulos described as "classic overcompensation. If he was on our planet, he'd be a 60-year-old guy with a combover, 4-foot-9 driving a convertible Ferrari." Taking inspiration from Diamantopoulos stroking his beard during recording, the animators gave Vario a tic where he strokes his gill-like facial fins. David W. Collins as Spybot:An unconventional droid who serves Maul. Collins, the series' sound designer, described the character as "a jaguar or panther meets a droid meets a spider"; in one scene, Spybot purrs when being petted by Maul. Collins tried various voices before settling on an homage to actor Peter Lorre which is then heavily manipulated by the sound team. He improvised many lines for the character. Dennis Haysbert as Eeko-Dio Daki:A fugitive Jedi and Devon Izara's master, who is still trying to follow the teachings of the Jedi Order. Daki is a Mosyk, a new lizard-like species created for the series, and was nicknamed "Dino Jedi" by the production. Haysbert was already a big fan of Star Wars and the franchise's previous animated series when he was approached about the role, and said it was his "destiny to play a Jedi Knight". Gideon Adlon as Devon Izara:A Twi'lek Jedi who is on the run following Order 66, and is targeted by Maul as a potential new apprentice. Head writer Matt Michnovetz said Devon is realizing that the future she expected is no longer possible and she needs to adapt. Portillo said there is an innocence to the character, who is "conflicted between right and wrong", while supervising director Brad Rau said Adlon's performance helped ground the series in reality. Richard Ayoade as Two-Boots: Brander Lawson's police droid partner. 2B0T, called "Two-Boots" for short, stands out from other droids by wearing actual boots. Sam Corlett as Reb: A Janix police officer Steve Blum as Icarus: A Dathomiri Nightbrother who serves Maul Wagner Moura as Brander Lawson:A police detective on Janix who is part of local law enforcement, separate from the Galactic Empire. Rau said Moura brought "this mix of gravitas and grounded realism" with his performance. Moura was drawn to the character's relationship with his son, Rylee, and his struggles to balance work with family. Charlie Bushnell as Rylee Lawson: The son of Brander Lawson, who plays botekin, the Star Wars version of lacrosse Keiko Agena as Klyce: The police chief on Janix Alastair Murden as Blake: An Imperial lieutenant who is responsible for Janix after Maul's presence is reported
Guests Introduced in other Star Wars media Stephen Stanton as Marg Krim: Leader of the Pyke Syndicate Clancy Brown as Savage Opress: Maul's brother who was killed by Sidious Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi: A Jedi who sliced Maul in half during a duel years ago Scott Whyte as Dryden Vos:The ambitious second-in-command of Crimson Dawn. Whyte took inspiration from Paul Bettany's performance as Vos in the film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) as well as his interviews during that film's promotion.
Introduced in season one Dave Fennoy as Scorn: A Dathomiri Nightbrother who serves Maul John Carroll Lynch as Nico Deemis: A crime lord who betrayed Maul Avery Kidd Waddell as Wade: A Janix police officer Pamela Adlon as Rheena Sul: An underworld contact of Brander Lawson's. Adlon is the mother of Devon's actress Gideon Adlon. Ben Diskin as Kebris: A Mandalorian mercenary who grows tired of losing money while working for Maul Tamlyn Tomita as Drea Lawson: The former wife of Brander Lawson and Rylee's mother who works for the Empire
Also appearing in non-speaking roles are the Eleventh Brother, another Inquisitor; and Darth Vader, Sidious's new Sith apprentice.
Episodes
Production Development
When Star Wars: The Bad Batch (2021–2024), a spin-off from the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008–2020), came to an end, supervising director Brad Rau hinted that another continuation of the "Clone Wars universe" was in development. During a panel celebrating the 20th anniversary of Lucasfilm Animation at Star Wars Celebration Japan in April 2025, Lucasfilm chief creative officer Dave Filoni and animation vice president Athena Yvette Portillo announced the studio's next animated series to be Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, focused on the Star Wars character Maul. Introduced in the film Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Maul was originally portrayed physically by Ray Park and voiced by Peter Serafinowicz. The character was presumed dead until he was brought back in The Clone Wars voiced by Sam Witwer, who reprised the role in the follow-up animated series Star Wars Rebels (2014–2018) and the live-action film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018). Witwer was confirmed to be returning for Maul – Shadow Lord during the Celebration panel.
While working on the previous Star Wars animated series, Witwer and Filoni—the supervising director for The Clone Wars and the first two seasons of Rebels—discussed different ideas about Maul that Filoni felt would be better explored in his own project. Filoni began work on Maul – Shadow Lord after Lucasfilm Animation staff returned to work following the COVID-19 pandemic, and was joined by many creatives from the previous series including Rau as supervising director and Matt Michnovetz as head writer. Witwer was brought onto the series a year before it was announced, and was more closely involved in development than with the previous series, discussing the character, reviewing scripts, and providing input on early animation. Witwer described Rau as Filoni's "apprentice" and explained that Filoni created the series but had more of an oversight role where he would only be involved with day-to-day production at rare times. Filoni is credited as creator, co-developer with Michnovetz, and executive producer with Michnovetz, Rau, Portillo, Carrie Beck, and Josh Rimes.
Ahead of the first season's premiere in April 2026, and soon after he was named co-CEO of Lucasfilm, Filoni said a second season was in development.
Writing The series takes place around a year after Maul's defeat at the hands of Ahsoka Tano at the end of the Clone Wars, as depicted in the final season of The Clone Wars. This is years before Maul's story comes to an end during the events of Rebels. Maul – Shadow Lord tells a serialized, 10-episode story which Michnovetz described as fast-paced and action-packed. He felt Maul was the perfect character to "drive us through" such a story. The writers included homages to the classic film serials which inspired Star Wars creator George Lucas.
Witwer said the series finds Maul "dusting himself off a bit" following the end of the Clone Wars and during the beginning of the Galactic Empire's reign. Witwer and the crew reviewed the character's previous appearances to ensure they were exploring questions about him that had not been answered before—including some that Witwer already knew the answer to—such as: why did Maul not reveal that his former master Palpatine was secretly a Sith lord, seemingly remaining loyal to Palpatine despite being discarded and replaced; how does a character who is "from a time of knights and magic" feel about the Empire "sucking the magic and life and color out of the galaxy"; how does he feel about the destruction of the Jedi Order, his life-long enemy, which Witwer compared to the Joker from DC Comics living on after the death of Batman; and how does Maul's approach to training an apprentice differ from how Palpatine and other Sith have trained apprentices in the past? Witwer described the series as "bad guys versus worse guys", and said they would not try to redeem Maul. Rau said even Witwer was surprised by some of the new aspects they were discovering about the character. Witwer used his Star Wars knowledge to bring depth and authenticity to Maul, and to help introduce the other cast members to the franchise.
Michnovetz explained that the series is set on the planet Janix, which features a city inside a crater. He compared it to both Gotham City and Metropolis from DC Comics, with a functioning democracy and law enforcement that has formed a "peaceful accord" with local criminals and gangsters. It features "different levels and layers" like previous Star Wars cities. Maul decides to rebuild his criminal syndicate on Janix because it is untouched by the Empire, although the Empire is gaining power throughout the galaxy and appears in the series through the Jedi-hunting Inquisitors. Michnovetz described them as "secret mercenaries that show up out of the darkness".
Casting