(REVIEW) Maul Shadow Lord season 1 is a different kind of Star Wars story
Maul: Shadow Lord sets out to bridge the gap between The Clone Wars and Solo, but its first season tells a much broader story than just the rise of Maul.
Maul: Shadow Lord’s first season begins to fill in the gap between the Maul that we saw defeated in the final season of Clone Wars and the powerful & secretive Crimson Dawn leader we later saw at the end of “Solo,” but surprisingly (despite the show’s title) that doesn’t seem to be the main story the show wants to tell.
A story that isn’t just about Maul
The show’s premier season starts with a little bit of what I expected, operating on a new city planet called Janix, Maul has been manipulating the underworld with the return of his shadow collective group. He puts in motion his plan to get revenge on those who failed him after his attempted coup on Mandalore. As it turns out, Maul isn’t the only main character of this installment; it’s also half cop show.
Meet the real main characters
Captain Brander Lawson and his Droid Partner Two-Boots of the local Police Force have their eyes on the activities of the Syndicate and, as an extension Maul. As Lawson investigates Maul’s activities, fate brings him together with a Twi’lek girl named Devon Izara and her Master Eeko-Dio Daki, both former Jedi who escaped Order 66 and have been in hiding on Janix.
Maul begins to sense Devon through the Force and believes this could be an opportunity for an apprentice to join him in his mission to bring down the Galactic Empire and kill his former master, Palpatine. Devon & Lawson are just as featured, if not more so than Maul, along with Devon’s Master, Lawson’s son Rylee, and the droid Two-Boots.
How this connects to “Solo” and “Clone Wars”
As a self-proclaimed super fan of Qi’ra (my first tattoo was the Crimson Dawn logo she has on her wrist) and, by extension of course, Crimson Dawn. The show wasn’t quite what I expected, but it does a great job of setting some potential avenues up for the future, and I’m very excited to see what comes next.
This season, or at least episodes 1-8, didn’t feature crimson dawn except for a couple verbal mentions, but with what we know comes next the syndicate will hopefully become very important to the story soon enough, and I’m very optimistic we’ll get to see Maul running things soon enough; especially since just before the show’s release it’s been confirmed that season 2 has already been greenlit and is on it’s way!
Background Info
“Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord” is created by Dave Filoni, based on Star Wars and characters created by George Lucas. The series is developed by Dave Filoni and Matt Michnovetz. Brad Rau is supervising director. The executive producers are Dave Filoni, Athena Yvette Portillo, Matt Michnovetz, Brad Rau, Carrie Beck, and Josh Rimes. Alex Spotswood is the co-executive producer. The voice cast includes Sam Witwer as Maul, Gideon Adlon as Devon Izara, Oscar® nominee Wagner Moura as Brander Lawson, Richard Ayoade as Two-Boots, Dennis Haysbert as Master Eeko-Dio-Daki, Chris Diamantopoulos as Looti Vario, Charlie Bushnell as Rylee Lawson, Vanessa Marshall as Rook Kast, David W. Collins as Spybot, A.J. LoCascio as Marrok, and Steve Blum as Icarus.
Follow us:
No matter where you want to go, our trusted partner MEI-Travel will handle the planning so you can focus on the memories. They offer free vacation-planning services and have nearly 20 years of experience creating memorable vacations. Visit MEI-Travel for a fee-free, no-obligation quote today.
