Darth Maul is taking on a whole new light as his series Star Wars: Maul - Shadow World approaches, which promises to explore a deeper psychology of the Sith lord.
A bold first series for Darth Maul
To everyone's surprise, Lucasfilm unveiled at its Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo an animated series about Darth Maul, the most badass Sith in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Chronologically set just after The Clone Wars, it promises to tell the story of how the Sith will attempt to rebuild their criminal network on a planet spared by the Empire.
For this new animated project, its creator Dave Filoni and Lucasfilm will use a hybrid visual identity between 3D and 2D. Star Wars is moving away from its usual style (The Clone Wars, Rebels, The Bad Batch) to try to breathe new artistic direction into its series, more sketchy and daring, in the vein of recent productions.
A new animated series announced with Darth Maul as the star! #SWCJ pic.twitter.com/Y2hpKwnt0z
— Star Wars Universe (@SWUcom) April 18, 2025
Nothing to do with Darth Sidious or Darth Vader
It's not just in animation that Star Wars is daring things. This big return of Darth Maul won't happen without some trauma and a vengeful air. Deeply affected by his confrontation with Obi-Wan Kenobi and his grievance with his former master, Darth Sidious, the antagonist will constantly question his moral choices in the past and how he felt cheated by Palpatine. In short, Darth Maul will display a humanity rarely seen before in the character's storyline. This is confirmed by the actor who will voice him in the animated series, Sam Witwer. It's really a story of villains versus even more villains. It won't be a series where Darth Maul is presented as a teddy bear either. But is he as fundamentally evil as Darth Vader or Darth Sidious? The answer is no. He has a certain humanity buried within him that resurfaces because of what happened to him."
While this notion of humanity has already been explored inStar Wars: Rebels, notably during his duel against Obi-Wan, it will be at the heart of the series here, and will lay the foundations for the different psychology he explores towards the end of his life.
It's rare for a series to focus on a major villain in the Star Wars universe. But the popularity of the Sith with the double lightsaber is such that Lucasfilm gives him full powers. On paper, at least,Star Wars: Maul - Shadow World promises to be a great project whose ambition is to shake up the codes of animation within the franchise. The series is planned for Disney+ in 2026, with no specific date currently set.
To delve deeper into the character, we imagined the three major live-action projects in which he could return.
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