During this year’s major galactic fan celebration, it was revealed that Sam Witwer, the long-time voice behind Darth Maul in the animated saga, will be returning for the upcoming series Maul: Shadow Lord. According to Witwer, the project is currently in production and is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2026. This marks the first time that an entire show will focus exclusively on the fan-favorite Sith since his cinematic debut in The Phantom Menace.
So far, not much has been officially confirmed about the plot. What we do know is that the story will take place exactly one year after the conclusion of the animated war series. At that point in the timeline, Maul had been captured by Ahsoka Tano during the Siege of Mandalore. She intended to bring him back to the Republic’s capital for trial, but the sudden activation of Order 66 forced her to release him in order to save her own life.
The next canonical appearance of Maul came years later in the Solo film, where he briefly appeared giving orders to Qi’ra, revealing himself as the leader of a powerful criminal syndicate. This hinted at a period when Maul commanded considerable influence in the underworld—yet audiences never truly witnessed that rise. By the time he returned in the later animated series focused on a group of young rebels, he was already a broken man: wandering the galaxy, desperately clawing for power wherever he could. His story eventually ended in that show, in one of the most memorable duels ever put to screen.
Given that timeline, it’s clear—and now officially confirmed—that Maul: Shadow Lord will explore how Maul built his crime syndicate and rose to power in the years between his release after Mandalore and his eventual downfall. Exactly how he accomplishes this remains uncertain, but the premise sets the stage for one of the most compelling chapters of his story yet.
