What’s the common thread between Darth Vader, Boba Fett and Darth Maul? For decades, my biggest complaint of the Maker, himself, George Lucas, was that he could seemingly create such cool character descriptions of Star Wars antagonists with ease, but he would usually write them into a corner for a far-too-soon death sequence before showcasing any sort of character development, whatsoever. It was a tried-but-true theory that spanned six feature films before Disney bought Lucasfilm.
Even now, though, that theory feels alive and kicking as the final releases of Kathleen Kennedy’s tumultuous tenure wrap with a whimper instead of a bang at the box office, as yet another familiar face of the franchise receives a streaming spin-off show.
Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord attempts to pick up the pieces of the Zabrak from Dathomir who was previously a Sith Lord.
Forgotten by Emperor Palpatine and left for dead by Lucas, Maul — no longer Darth — was originally the main antagonist in Episode I: The Phantom Menace, but the character would return for a retcon of sorts in The Clone Wars as Dave Filoni resurrected the character and forged his savage reputation with the Dark Side forever, a proposition not even Lucas could have imagined (who eventually deemed the show canon and oversaw storylines). Maul would later make appearances in Rebels, as well as Solo: A Star Wars Story.
So, can a prequel person eventually become a legacy character? At the current state of the franchise, I’d say there’s a good chance.
To be perfectly transparent, I haven’t had the patience — or much tolerance — to dive head-first into each of the Disney Plus offerings of the Star Wars Universe, especially after watching several episodes of The Acolyte. I have watched all of the feature films up to this point and I’m hoping to catch up on the Mando-verse before the upcoming movie premieres, but I really haven’t been very interested in so many of the spinoff series. I am currently rewatching The Clone Wars because I truly enjoyed it the first time around and I’m hoping to rewatch Rebels, which I abandoned pretty early in its lifespan.
Which brings us to this series. If you don’t know much about Maul outside Episode I, I’d catch up via his wiki or watch a few episodes of The Clone Wars in order to see how this character continues to claw his way back from death, as well as his former master. As expected, dark themes fill this show. The series premiere begins with a bang on the planet Janix, as gangsters and crime lords turn a heist into a turf war, but it’s much, much more.
Maul deals with death, suffering, betrayal and revenge, and the character’s actions complement the moody score (which is reminiscent of Danny Elfman’s Batman theme at times). But when “Duel of the Fates” cues up as the action begins, I won’t lie, I had to dig out my soundtrack CD and relisten to the song a few times.
The main storyline is balanced by Detective Lawson, who investigates the brutal events, but does not want to attract the attention of the Galactic Empire. Naturally, he’s overmatched but he crosses paths with a Jedi (Master Eeko-Dio Daki) and his Twi’lek padawan (Devon Izara), who are trying to flee to safety. And as this show is aimed at a younger audience, Lawson’s teenage son (Rylee) tags along as well, since this is a Disney production, after all.
“We do what we must to survive…”
In this presentation, Maul is not good, not bad, but he still hates the Jedi AND the Empire. While I never really considered him a complex character in Episode I or thought an entire series would revolve around the character, since his “rebirth,” his importance within the canon has slowly grown more necessary, much like his legs. Sadly, the main character is pushed into a supporting role in his own series.
Being a fan of the Dark Side has been rough. For decades, Lucas never glorified the bad guys, even though he always created them to be more interesting than all of the good guys combined. Because of that, there were decades and decades of missed opportunities to showcase their tyranny. Here, Maul and his mercenaries mostly play a cat and mouse game with the cops and the Jedi, chasing each other. It’s not quite an episode of Law and Order, but a police procedural within the Star Wars Universe, this does feel like.
Almost to be expected, the color red plays prominently into this series, from the reflection of Maul’s facial tattoos to the shade of his double-bladed lightsaber, to the incoming laser blasts, to the warning lights constantly flashing as crimes are being committed — it’s everywhere.
The overall look of the show gives me mixed signals. While similar to Clone Wars, it’s more abstract. The long shadows look great (they’re fitting for a Sith-like darkness), but every time a close-up of Maul’s face fills the screen, it looks like a sketch that was kinda filled in with colored pencils, constantly looking unfinished (or maybe it’s closer to smudgy finger paint) — either way, I’m not a big fan of it. On the voice acting side, Sam Witwer provides more dialogue than his character is used to getting, and I’m most pleased to hear Dave Fennoy and Dennis Haysbert as recognizable voices, even if their characters aren’t.
I used to be a purist and truly believed you had to either like all of a franchise’s canon or none of it, but now I have truly seen the light. It’s totally possible to only like a small portion of a series and still be considered a fan of the franchise. I’ll always be true to the Original Trilogy. I felt lukewarm about the prequels, but I did like certain scenes or characters of that trilogy, with Darth Maul being one of them.
And don’t even get me started on Disney’s sequels.
The mystical magic of The Force vs. the Dark Side no longer interests me as it used to. I simply want some competent writing without any agendas to complement my space drama, which has been hard to find throughout Kennedy’s tenure as Lucasfilm President.
I’m hopeful that Disney’s Star Wars Universe will soon branch out into new, foreign directions that haven’t been explored so far, so I’ll be holding my breath just a little longer until the big-screen adaptation of Death Troopers eventually premieres, as the franchise needs to embrace the horror genre wholeheartedly. Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord could have taken steps toward that goal as Disney now realizes the character is in demand… but it did not.
“As the Empire has risen, we have all been made to suffer.”