Star Wars’ Next Animated Series Already Has The Perfect Set Up
That’s Maul, folks.
The Clone Wars defined an entire era of the Star Wars universe. Initially a standalone theatrical film that met with mixed results, it sparked a TV series that, once it found its groove, delivered some of the best Star Wars storytelling ever. Even though it began only a few years after the prequel trilogy, ended after the sequels, and aired on three different networks, it never felt like it lost its stride. Without such a long-running success, it seems unlikely we’d have the Mando-verse today.
It’s always difficult to end a big and important saga, but five years ago, The Clone Wars managed to honor its story in a way that was bittersweet but satisfying. What we didn’t know then was that it would also set the stage for a new animated series, Maul — Shadow Lord, the upcoming show focusing on everyone’s favorite morally grey Zabrak.
Maul has some epic action sequences in the Clone Wars finale.
“Victory and Death” was the Clone Wars’ series finale, but it also depicted the event the series had been leading up to the entire time: Order 66, when the clones Ahsoka had grown close to suddenly turned against her and all the other Jedi. From the moment we were introduced to clone characters, this inevitability hung over the story like the Sword of Damocles.
When the penny dropped while Ahsoka was aboard the Tribunal, she had to cope with the betrayal while fighting for her life. In an act of desperation, she decided to release the prisoner she had on board: Darth Maul, the onetime Sith apprentice captured after the Siege of Mandalore.
In the finale, this strategy pays off with an epic sequence of Maul plowing through clones as he fights his way to freedom. But in one of the episode’s most heartbreaking moments, Ahsoka is torn between stopping Maul before he goes too far and helping the loyal Rex fend off the rest of the clones.
Ahsoka had to choose between stopping Maul and saving Rex.
She chooses to let Maul escape, and this subplot now has huge implications for Star Wars canon. At Star Wars Celebration Japan, Lucasfilm Animation announced Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord, a new animated series starring original Clone Wars voice actor Sam Witwer. Set after the events of the Clone Wars finale, Shadow Lord will follow Maul as he rises again to lead a criminal syndicate.
Hardcore fans knew Maul would escape, as his ultimate demise had already been depicted in Rebels. But no one knew this wouldn’t just be set up for Maul to reappear later in the timeline. Now we’re going to fill in the final blanks of his story. It took half a decade, but knowing Star Wars Animation, the wait should be worth it.
