Disney and Lucasfilm wrapped up “Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord” last night, the last two episodes of the ten-episode first season being released on the Disney+ service.
The series has scored some of the best critical reviews of any “Star Wars” film or TV series on Rotten Tomatoes, pulling in a stunning 98% from 41 reviews – just ahead of the second season of “Andor” at 97%.
On Metacritic, it’s at a 75/100, not quite so high, but still on par with “Star Wars: Rebels”. Disney knew they had something as an official renewal order was announced in early April – days ahead of the series premiere.
Now, the series’ lead voice star Sam Witwer confirms that despite the renewal order only being handed out a few weeks ago, the second season will arrive potentially sooner than you think. He tells The Direct: “It’s not a situation where the audiences will have to wait too, too long.”
He confims the team has already been developing the second season for some time and so something closer to previous animated “Star Wars” shows with a 12-18 month gap is the most likely scenario (ie. sometime mid-2027). Witwer also says he underestimated how passionately audiences would embrace the show:
“My prediction for Shadow Lord was, ‘Yeah, I think we have the goods. I did not necessarily see all of the passion and how hardcore everyone is locked into this show. The entire team, myself included, feels a tremendous responsibility to slam our foot into the gas”
Set after the events of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars,” the series finds Maul plotting to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire. He crosses paths with a disillusioned young Jedi Padawan who may just be the apprentice he is seeking to aid him in his relentless pursuit of revenge.
The full ten episodes of the first season are now up on the Disney+ service.
