Maul: Shadow Lord trailer might be teasing Star Wars’ coolest Sith

A triumphant return for the most cockroach-like villain in Star Wars

Out of all the upcoming Star Wars shows debuting sometime in the future — a nebulous stretch of time that all future Star Wars films currently occupy, barring The Mandalorian & Grogu and Starfighter — Maul: Shadow Lord is one of our most anticipated.

An official release date for the animated series from Lucasfilm Animation has eluded fans for a while now, but we did know that it was due to debut sometime this year. In late 2025, Marvel also announced a prequel spinoff comic for the animated show that's set to release sometime in March, so we'd previously speculated we'd see more of the ex-Sith sometime in the summer. Now, with the latest teaser trailer for Maul: Shadow Lord, we finally have a confirmed release date: April 6.

While details of the series have been pretty sparse, what we do know (and as the trailer confirms) is that Maul has been pretty busy rebuilding his criminal syndicate on "a planet untouched by the Empire." And yes, you heard right, that is indeed Sam Witwer reprising his role as Maul.

An explosive trailer from start to finish, it looks as though Maul will be joined by several new characters, including Captain Brander Lawson from the Marvel comic, who looks to be actively pursuing him. He's also joined by a pink Twi'lek Jedi, whose name we currently do not know, but looks to be teaming up with the ex-Sith for some sort of mission. Considering the last Jedi who shacked up with Maul was almost made his apprentice, we reckon the odds are in our favor when we say this newcomer might find herself with the same fate in this new animated series. It'll make the Darth Talon theorists — a character originally envisioned by George Lucas to be an apprentice of Maul — happy at least.

Maul may have a [spoiler alert!] fixed ending in Rebels, but as with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader, Disney and Lucasfilm won't let that stop them from exploring the Sith Lord's previously untold adventures as much as possible. The character was presumed dead after 1999's Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, after Obi-Wan (Ewan McGregor) sliced him clean in half and watched his body fall down a ventilation shaft. But, as we've learned, even if you do see a body, there are plenty of ways for characters to come back in a galaxy far, far away. Maul has since appeared in later seasons of the animated series The Clone Wars (2008-2020) in addition to Rebels, as well as in a brief cameo in the live-action film Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).

As the character finally takes center stage in a series of his own, we're curious about what sort of tale Maul will bring into the larger Star Wars universe. Thankfully, we won't have too long to find out.

Maul: Shadow Lord will stream on Disney Plus on April 6.