It was just last weekend when CinemaBlend attended the Star Wars Celebration in Tokyo, Japan, and got to witness all the big moments. That included the announcement of Ryan Gosling's new movie which was cheered on by fans to Hayden Christensen and Rosario Dawson's reunion on stage ahead both of them returning for Ahsoka Season 2. However,, I have to say, the most I’ve seen Star Wars fans lose their minds all weekend was when it was revealed that a Darth Maul spinoff show is coming out next year.
Just a day after Maul: Shadow Lord had audiences hooting and hollering over the first trailer for the animated series (which remains officially exclusive to Star Wars Celebration), CinemaBlend got to speak to longtime Darth Maul voice actor Sam Witwer about his involvement in the series. In his words:
The animation style was something that Dave [Filoni] described to me that it will recognizably be in that Clone Wars world, but a little bit more extreme because it’s things from Darth Maul’s perspective. It’s a little bit more edgy and jagged and dangerous.
Sam Witwer’s Maul is featured heavily in the Star Wars: Clone Wars series, which ran from 2008 to 2020 (with a six-year hiatus between 2014 and 2020). Maul: Shadow Lord brings the visual style of Lucasfilm Animation and Darth Maul quite a few steps forward As someone who was in the room when the trailer was shown, I can say the new series absolutely channels the dark side of the Star Wars Universe in a way we’ve never seen before, and my jaw dropped.
The trailer involves Darth Maul rebuilding his criminal empire in the time between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. In the footage we watched, we saw glimpses of him taking on his own apprentice, but through a completely new framing than we’ve seen in a series before. That's because the show is told from the perspective of one of the franchise’s darkest characters. Witwer also said this to CinemaBlend:
I was brought on board a year ago, so I have seen quite a bit. And, in fact they brought me in deeper than they’ve ever brought me in before. It was always very collaborative and George [Lucas] encouraged collaboration, but now that I have fifteen years of playing the character, they felt it necessary to bring me in even deeper. So we’re always on the phone, we’re always having meetings, emails, there’s always questions about character moments.
How cool is it that Sam Witwer is so involved in Shadow Lord? The voice actor has played the role for over a decade, starting in the Clone Wars series. He's since reprised the role for Rebels, Lego Star Wars and Battlefront II. He even voiced Maul in Solo: A Star Wars Story. After spending years developing the voice, Witwer now has the opportunity to be part of the creative process and see Darth Maul really take center stage for the first time ever.
I absolutely can’t wait for Maul: Shadow Lord to be released in 2026 and, judging by the reactions at Star Wars Celebration, I’m not the only one. There are so many exciting upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows on the way aside from this animated series. So it's a good time to be a fan of the galaxy far, far away.
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