A week ago, Cinelinx’s Jordan Maison dropped a report on a new Star Wars animated show that is currently in development, one focusing on Maul!
Maison reports that noted Star Wars voice actors Dee Bradley Baker, Matt Lanter, and Sam Witwer are returning for the series, with Paul Bettany also expected to return to voice Dryden Vos. The series, according to Maison, will be about Maul’s time running Crimson Dawn and will be set before the events of Solo: A Star Wars Story.
There aren’t really any more details than this, but it sounds like the design for the series would be to further explore Maul’s time running the Crimson Dawn syndicate, exploring some of his exploits and the underworld of the galaxy in the age of the Empire. But I wouldn’t be surprised if eventually it crossed over the events of Solo and showed how Maul wound up on Malachor in Rebels, while also showing how Qi’ra took over command of the syndicate. But that would all be down the road.
If this is true, it would help explain why the model for Dryden Vos was created for only a brief cameo in The Clone Wars; that led me (and others) to speculate that he would appear in The Bad Batch, but this makes even more sense. And I think it would be really cool, as Maul has become one of the most interesting characters in Star Wars storytelling since he returned in The Clone Wars a decade ago. But this series would also mark a drastic change in Star Wars storytelling, as it would be following the perspective of a villain as its main focus – something that no series to-date has done (though we’ll see how The Book of Boba Fett is handled). That has me curious as to how this would play out and if there’s any more to the series.
But regardless, getting more Maul is always a good thing, and getting more animated Star Wars series is even better. With the increased focus in live-action series for Disney+ (for good reason!), I’ve really been hoping that animation doesn’t take a back seat. This would be an encouraging sign that it is not.
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