Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord Review (Disney+)
Revenge is, in a way, the plate on which the Star Wars universe spins. While it may not be the Jedi way, it is the foundational motivator of the Sith, and, as canon shows, a sure-fire path to the Dark Side. It’s this need to avenge his mother, and Palpatine’s exploitation of it, that begins Anakin Skywalker’s fall. It’s the retaliation against centuries of exile that results in Order 66 and the decimation of the Jedi Order. It’s the very reason Darth Maul survives his apparent defeat at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi in The Phantom Menace: the pure, animalistic need to live, and then best the ones that bested you.
It’s no surprise, then, that revenge is on the mind of Maul in Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord. Last seen in his reveal as the shadow leader of crime syndicate Crimson Dawn in Solo: A Star Wars Story in 2018, the iconic Zabrak makes his return to our screens in a 10-part animated series from The Bad Batch director Brad Rau, helmed by creator and recently appointed President of Lucasfilm, Dave Filoni. Taking place one year after the events of Revenge of the Sith, we find Maul (voiced once again by Sam Witwer) on Janix, a mid-rim planet yet untouched by the Empire. Now the ruler of Mandalore, he’s joined by a collection of Mandalorian mercenaries led by Rook Kast (Vanessa Marshall) as they attempt to rebuild his previously dashed criminal empire.
But the planet’s obscurity isn’t the only thing keeping Maul on Janix. After his failed attempt to lure Ahsoka to his side in The Clone Wars, Maul senses an opportunity to take on an apprentice in the form of Jedi Padawan Devon (Gideon Adlon), who is under the training of Jedi Eeko-Dio (Dennis Haysbert). What follows is a gloriously dark spectacle of rage, retribution, and perhaps surprisingly, family dynamics, that not only explores life in the early days of the Empire, but adds welcomed depth to one of Star Wars’ most compelling characters.
Switching from the previous small-arc focused style of storytelling seen in The Clone Wars and Rebels, Lucasfilm Animation pivots to a complete serialised structure here, adopting a single, focused narrative that unfolds across 10 episodes. This style also means that new faces, like Padawan Devon and disgruntled police Captain Lawson (marking Wagner Moura’s inauguration to the Star Wars universe), have space to grow both into their own as characters, and subsequently on the audience.
But it is still the many intricacies of Maul and his history that anchor this tale. Sam Witwer is, as always, monumental as Maul, embellishing him with his typical, menacing cadence that teeters on desperation as we dive into his collapsing psyche. And then come Maul’s typical contemplations of good vs. evil, resulting in some banger one-liners that might make even the most staunch Jedi stop in their tracks as Devon comes to learn. Who is really responsible for the state of the galaxy? What is the true meaning of peace, and who gets to decide who deserves to live under it? In Shadow Lord, Maul uses these questions to taunt his opponents in battle, but in his own mind, he is equally tortured by the tragic loss and deception that bring him to ask them in the first place.
It’s this emotionally in-depth approach to Maul that makes for so many compelling lightsaber battles with Inquisitors and Jedi alike, resulting in some of the best choreographed and visually constructed action sequences in both animated and live-action Star Wars to date. Building on the animation style introduced through The Clone Wars and developed since through The Bad Batch and the Tales of… mini-series, Shadow Lord reintroduces an old-school technique of oil matte painting to achieve an absolutely captivating art style that allows beautiful, sweeping shots of Janix to seamlessly merge into fast-paced speeder chases without losing an ounce of vibrancy or definition.
This technical work, combined with impressive sound design and what is easily the best score from composer Kevin Kiner since his work on Season 7 of The Clone Wars, adds to the already valiant case for the necessity of Star Wars animation. It makes a case, too, for creator Dave Filoni, whose output in the universe has come into question as of late. Shadow Lord echoes the brilliance of his earliest work under the guise if George Lucas: yes, there are Jedi, Sith, lightsabers and light speed travel, but this is a show that follows a largely ‘street’ level story of crime and double crosses, more akin to the simplicity of the beginning of Rebels than the convoluted tendencies of the Skywalker Saga and the ‘Mandoverse’.
This straightforward approach doesn’t negate the fact that Shadow Lord is an undeniably serious story with arguably fewer moments of reprieve than Andor, but it also doesn’t retract from any of its classic Star Wars charm either. There’s a bumbling droid sidekick, Two-Boots (voiced by Richard Ayoade), force mind-tricks and of course, the classic clash of Sith and Jedi. While the scale of the show is likely to change pending the release of the final two episodes that will head into the recently confirmed Season 2, Episodes 1-8 of Shadow Lord can sit comfortably in its place as not just a resounding animation success, but a resoundingly worthy addition to the modern Star Wars canon. No revenge needed here.
★★★★
Episodes watched: 1-8 / Streaming weekly on Disney+ from April 6th / Sam Witwer, Gideon Adlon, Wagner Moura, Richard Ayoade, Vanessa Marshall, Dennis Haysbert / Disney, Lucasfilm
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