Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord, review of the animated series that brings back the coolest sith ever

Although his was ultimately a fleeting appearance, ending with a sudden death, Darth Maul ended up embodying the spirit of the Star Wars prequel trilogy and also a bit of the (delightfully tacky, let's face it) spirit of those years around the millennium. His success with the public, also due to that very '2000s look, with the red and black makeup on his face, two rows of small horns on his head, and the double-bladed lightsaber in hand, a sort of mythological version of the 'zarro' (a term for a flashy, somewhat vulgar person), meant that the flamboyant follower and apprentice of Darth Sidious found a way to return from the realm of the dead to appear in several other episodes of the saga created by George Lucas, playing a particularly significant role during the period of the Clone Wars and the animated series of the same name. Betrayed by his allies and his own mentor, Maul remained stuck for several years in that limbo into which Disney cast the Star Wars mythology by compulsively pursuing different paths, often only in an attempt to erase the past, without ever finding a truly right one (with the exception of Andor).

Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord, a new animated series available on Disney+, picks up the thread of the story exactly from there: about a year after the end of the Clone Wars, Maul is in command of a small group of loyalists, but he is alive and ready to exact his revenge starting with the business partners of his criminal cartel who betrayed him at the first change of wind. The crusade of him who once could boast the title of Sith Lord leads him to Janix, the planet from which Looti Vario - Maul's first target - conducts his operations.

And it's incredible how, abandoning the usual sandy planet and the Skywalker sagas, the stories connected to Star Wars become interesting again and the Galaxy breathes with life, expanding the boundaries (even of genre) of the saga. In terms of tones, colors, and atmospheres, Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord is for long stretches a detective thriller in which, tangentially, some characters, instead of wielding a weapon, shoot rays from their hands, but the result remains the same. The Galaxy, besides being far, far away, can also be big, big and host new characters, places, and stories without losing its charm.

Maul's arrival on Janix and the methods he immediately uses to flush out his old associates quickly attract the attention of the planet's police force, particularly those of Brander Lawson and his robotic partner Two Boots. And although the droid insists on reminding his flesh-and-blood colleague of the urgent need to involve the Empire in the escalating situation, Lawson seems to have plenty of good reasons to keep Troopers and Inquisitors away from his planet, among which the most convincing concerns the Empire's established tendency to never leave planets once reached, imposing a gloomy climate of terror.

To make matters worse, for both Maul and Lawson, is the simultaneous presence on Janix of Jedi Master Eeko-Dio-Daki and his young Padawan Devon Izara, whose efforts to remain undetected and move to a safe place to escape the Jedi hunt that began with Order 66 end up intertwining with both Maul's criminal plans and Lawson's investigation. Obviously, the intersection of these three stories, in which Rylee, Lawson's young son, also plays a significant role, throws everyone's plans into disarray, but above all puts Maul and Devon Izara on the same path, and unfortunately the former Sith Lord seems entirely intent on transforming his young and resolute adversary into an equally fearless apprentice, not without some understandable hesitation on the girl's part.

As can be perceived from the plot hints above, as vague as possible so as not to spoil the viewing for anyone, Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord chooses simplicity and the choice proves to be apt: Andor is another planet (excuse the joke, I couldn't resist), but Maul's animated series places itself in the upper quadrant of new Star Wars productions, simply trying to tell a story with its themes and characters, within the Star Wars Universe, instead of stirring up the saga's mythology to titillate nostalgia. To be clear: it's quite evident that the visual imagery of Blade Runner has influenced several aspects of this animated series, from the look to the tones, yet it's still refreshing to see Star Wars step out of its comfort zone and venture elsewhere. And the second season, already announced but inevitable given the cliffhanger ending of these first 8 episodes, might - who knows! - take the saga even further, to other places and other atmospheres. Perhaps even with a very slight dusting of horror, as in the final sequences where we discover Maul's fate at the end of this first season.