Sam Witwer Explains Darth Maul’s Search for Identity Arc in ‘Maul — Shadow Lord’ Disney+ Show

April 2026 brings the galaxy far, far away back into the public eye with the release of Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord on Disney+. Starring Sam Witwer as the titular Sith Lord, the show picks up after the events of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, as Maul works his way through the criminal underworld on Janix and hopes to go after the new Galactic Empire. After initially being killed off in 1999’s Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, his time on the animated side of Star Wars has fully fleshed out his character, setting the stage for a thrilling story centered around him this time around.

Giving Star Wars fans an easy jumping-off point to dive into the saga for the first time, this show will give more depth than ever to Maul, who has gone through a wild journey since recovering from being chopped in half. Considering that history, Maul is naturally seeking payback on plenty of people who have done him wrong over the years while focusing on his own rise to power. Now, new quotes detail more of his storyline in this series and where his focus truly lies.

Speaking exclusively with MovieWeb, Darth Maul voice actor Sam Witwer dove into his character’s upcoming arc in Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord. Hoping to make people “take him seriously” by ensuring that the “people who screwed him over” are dealt with publicly, he has a larger plan in place to rise to power, but does not see how it will come to fruition. When he finds a new Jedi who “blows his mind” in the first episode, he begins to rethink everything, as he can now push his plan forward even more quickly:

“Well, he can’t build power unless he makes it very clear that you must take him seriously, and no one’s gonna be able to take him seriously if the people that screwed him over aren’t dealt with, and very publicly. So, he starts this series in a house-cleaning place. He’s got to make sure that the people that said they were going to be there at the end of the Clone Wars, the ones that scattered, the ones that betrayed him, the ones that ran off with some of his money, or ran off with a spaceship of his, he’s got to make sure that each and every one of them is dealt with. And he has a larger plan in place, but he doesn’t see how, because right now, again, he’s kind of not slumming, but a little bit, he’s taking care of these minor folks.

“But then, something miraculous happens in the first episode that he did not count on. He encounters something he thought was extinct, which is, essentially, a Jedi blows his mind. He’s like, ‘What?’ So that changes the whole thing. It accelerates his plan, and suddenly, his ambitions grow much, much greater. Because Maul has been for now several months having visions of someone that he could perhaps train and guide and perhaps use maybe a little bit, and in his mind that’s probably going to be a long, long process. However, it’s not what he discovers. He discovers someone who’s already trained. So, that’s very interesting.”

Continuing on, Witwer addressed going after “the people he thinks should really suffer” for everything that has happened to him, hoping to make a spectacle of it. However, after years of “doing what his master trained him to do,” this is his first time on his own, leading him to ask questions like “who am I?” as he pushes forward in his journey. He also questions what he should do about the Empire as they rise to power, especially with less support than ever next to him:

“I don’t know if that’s something I should say to someone that hasn’t seen Episode 1. What can I say about it if you haven’t seen Episode 1? Here’s the version of the answer. Maul is in a place where, if he’s gonna rebuild power and go after the people he thinks should really suffer for what’s happened to him, he’s got a credibility issue. He’s got to make sure that anyone who betrays him is very publicly dealt with, and other than that, he is just trying to…this is what’s interesting about the story. It’s the first time that Maul is really sitting down and going, ‘Oh, my God, who am I?’ Because in the Clone Wars, he’s doing what his master trained him to do: secure a base of power, build an army, do all these things. This is the first time he’s really on his own. He doesn’t even have Savage Opress, his brother, and so he is asking himself a lot of questions: ‘Who Am I? How am I different from my master, the Emperor, who created this grotesque, ugly, mechanized Empire?’ And, ‘What is it that I must do about this Empire?'”

Considering Maul’s loyalty to the Sith over the years, which was put into question after his Phantom Menace near-death experience, he is in a place where he is trying to not only find where he fits in the world but also get payback on those who have wronged him. However, the question of who he is will surely play a huge role in that journey, particularly with the Empire rising to power the way fans saw at the end of the prequel trilogy and during the original movies. How his story fits into the grand narrative is still a mystery, but it is clear that the plot is landing well with viewers already, as this mysterious character gains new life.