The newest Star Wars series is coming to Disney+ next week, and it’s all about one of the franchise’s most menacing characters: Maul. The series, Maul – Shadow Lord, is set in the early days of the Empire as the former Sith apprentice tries to survive in a rapidly changing galaxy.
But you might be thinking, “wait, didn’t Darth Maul die in The Phantom Menace? How is this show possible?” If that’s you – or even if you just want a refresher ahead of the series – you’ve come to the right place. Let’s do a quick overview of Maul’s story, priming you to see it continue in this new series.
The Phantom Menace: Sith apprentice
In The Phantom Menace, the first film of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, we meet Darth Sidious’s shady apprentice, Darth Maul. Designed to look devilish and wielding a double-sided lightsaber, Maul was a man of little words and even less character development. He was designed to fight and look cool doing it, and that was achieved to stunning success. Accompanied by John Williams’s now-iconic Duel of the Fates, Maul fought against Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Maul killed Jinn, stabbing him through the gut, but was then cut in half by Kenobi. He fell down a reactor shaft, to his death.
Or did he?
Surviving on hate
Star Wars creator George Lucas had the idea to bring Maul back for the animated series The Clone Wars, which he created with Dave Filoni (now Lucasfilm President). But that required some explanation as to how he could have survived. The explanation he gave years later was that he survived on his hatred – hated for Kenobi, and the Jedi, and everything. His upper body landed in a trash pile at the bottom of the shaft, which was later dumped on the trash world of Lotho Minor – basically, think a planet in the galaxy that is just one big junkyard.
While on this planet, Maul managed to fashion a new set of legs for himself, creating a spider-like appearance with many legs that he used to move around. Though he had survived, he became increasingly deranged and driven insane by all his suffering. A snake-like creature, named Morley, reached a deal to find and bring Maul food, in exchange for the leftovers of said food.
This was Maul’s miserable existence for over a decade. During this time, the Clone Wars broke out in the galaxy. A clan of Force-sensitive witches named Nightsisters, using their magick, gave a nightbrother named Savage Oppress to Count Dooku to be his new apprentice. But the leader of these Nightsisters, Mother Talzin, was actually the mother of Maul. She knew that he had survived, and sent Oppress – Maul’s brother – to find him. Oppress found Maul and brought him back home to Dathomir, where Talzin restored Maul’s mind and sanity, brought his memories back to him, and fashioned a new pair of cybernetic legs for him.
Maul’s revenge was about to begin.
The Clone Wars: Leading the Shadow Collective
Having survived so long on his hatred for Kenobi, Maul’s first step upon his return was to seek revenge. Obi-Wan Kenobi was by this time a member of the Jedi High Council and a leading Jedi High General in the war effort, and Maul sought to draw him out by mercilessly slaughtering civilians until the Jedi sent Obi-Wan to investigate. Maul and Oppress overpowered Kenobi and took him captive, but the Jedi escaped with the help of Count Dooku’s former apprentice, Asajj Ventress.
From this point, Maul set in motion a plan to accumulate power and get revenge. He took Oppress as his apprentice and continued to pursue Kenobi, leading to other encounters. But Maul also had larger plans: he began building his Shadow Collective, a group of criminal syndicates working together under the former Sith’s leadership. He recruited the Mandalorian sect Death Watch, the Black Sun organization, the Pyke Syndicate, and the Hutt Clan in this unstable alliance, as well as the help of the Nighbrothers and Nightsisters. This was part of Maul’s plans to take control of galactic power and strike against both of the major sides of the Clone War, the Separatists and Republic.
This alliance achieved significant tasks, including taking control of Mandalore with Maul as their ruler. It was through this that Maul managed to get his ultimate revenge against Kenobi. The Shadow Collective deposed Duchess Satine Kryze of Mandalore, who was Kenobi’s long-ago love. Her peril brought Kenobi to Mandalore on an unsanctioned mission, where Maul slaughtered Satine in front of the Jedi, who cradled her in his arms as she died. His cruel glee of revenge was short-lived, however. Darth Sidious had grown wary of Maul’s growing power and decided to put an end to it. He traveled to Mandalore, where he engaged Maul and Oppress in a lightsaber duel. Sidious killed Oppress and took Maul captive, destabilizing his rule.
The Clone Wars: The Siege of Mandalore
He eventually was rescued and returned to Mandalore, attempting to reclaim power with the Shadow Collective. But he also had another plan. He had a vision that Anakin Skywalker was groomed to be Sidious’s new apprentice, and Maul wanted to kill Skywalker first. He wanted to lure Kenobi and Skywalker to Mandalore, but this plan was foiled by General Grievous’s stunning attack on Coruscant (as seen at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith). This led Kenobi and Skywalker rushing to rescue the kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, but Skywalker’s former apprentice, Ahsoka Tano, was given command of the mission to liberate Mandalore and capture Maul. Tano led a battalion of clones and Mandalorians in a siege of Mandalore, and wound up dueling Maul in an epic lightsaber clash. Maul was defeated and captured.
En route to Coruscant, however, Order 66 happened. The clones turned on Tano, who freed Maul from his cell in an attempt to create a diversion. Maul fought his way through the ship, destroying the reactor and pulling it out of hyperspace. He then stole a shuttle and flew away, living to fight another day.
Solo: Leading Crimson Dawn
That’s where Maul – Shadow Lord comes in. It is set in the aftermath of those events, as the Empire rises to power. So there is a lot to fill-in during this period. But we do know one thing: though his Shadow Collective was dead, he did take over leadership of a newer crime syndicate, Crimson Dawn. He was in authority over this group by the time where, ten years later, Han Solo and Chewbacca were enlisted by Qi’ra on a mission to help Crimson Dawn. Maul, though, lurked in the shadows as the true leader behind this syndicate.
But as is the case with the entirety of Maul’s story, any step forward was met with two steps back.
Rebels: One last chance at revenge
His time leading Crimson Dawn eventually came to an end when he was stranded on the ancient Sith world of Malachor, until Jedi knight Kanan Jarrus, his apprentice Ezra Bridger, and the former Jedi Ahsoka Tano found him. Maul joined forces with them against Imperial Inquisitors, but betrayed the Jedi by blinding Jarrus and trying to win Bridger as his new apprentice. Maul fled as Darth Vader showed up to fight the Jedi, but Maul wasn’t done pursuing Bridger. He wanted the young Jedi to be his new pupil, but his plans changed when he had a vision through the Force that Kenobi was still alive.
Bridger sought Kenobi out, and Maul followed. This led him to Tatooine, where he had one final confrontation with the old Jedi master. Maul realized that Kenobi must be there protecting someone, at which point Obi-Wan ignited his lightsaber in defense. As quickly as Maul’s rage-filled attack began, it ended, with Kenobi slicing Maul through the chest and killing him – this time, for real. Kenobi cradled Maul in his arms as his old foe died – Maul believing that Obi-Wan was guarding the chosen one who would avenge them. In the aftermath of the duel, Kenobi buried Maul in the Tatooine desert.
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