Sam Witwer, the voice actor behind Darth Maul in numerous Star Wars reveals and the upcoming Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord, has spoken: you don’t want to observe something to know what’s occurring within the new present. To that, I agree. That being stated, you do must learn one thing to know why Maul is so inquisitive about rebuilding his prison empire within the first place.
Nevertheless, as a result of there’s quite a lot of Maul content material to get via, we perceive not everybody has the time. So to avoid wasting new or returning followers the effort, we’ve narrowed it down to 1 important story from Darkish Horse Comics: Star Wars: Darth Maul — Son of Dathomir.
A 2014 comedian miniseries from Darkish Horse, Son of Dathomir, follows Maul after the occasions of the Clone Wars episode “The Lawless,” by which Sheev Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) confronts his former apprentice and defeats him in a lightsaber duel. Within the comedian, Palpatine transports Maul to a Separatist jail on Stygeon Prime. There, Sidious taunts him, saying that whereas he has a brand new apprentice in Rely Dooku, he nonetheless has use for Maul in spite of everything — as bait to lure within the chief of the Nightsisters, Mom Talzin.
Regardless of the four-part miniseries being launched earlier than Star Wars creator George Lucas bought the franchise to Disney, Son of Dathomir continues to be thought of a part of canon. That is, presumably, as a result of the comedian was initially conceived as a four-episode arc for The Clone Wars that was labored on, however wasn’t accomplished. Matt Michnovetz, head author for the upcoming Maul: Shadow Lord, co-wrote stated arc alongside Aïda Mashaka Croal. So it’s secure to say that each Maul: Shadow Lord and Son of Dathomir will stay cohesive with each other.
The primary difficulty delves briefly into Maul’s childhood on Dathomir, with Sidious explaining to Dooku how he selected Maul to be his apprentice and the connection between himself, Maul, and Mom Talzin. Regardless of the brevity, it captures how Palpatine groomed and manipulated Maul from a younger age, whereas additionally highlighting the character’s loyalties and allies past the Sith lord.
Finally, a type of allies reveals as much as free Maul: a staff of Dying Watch Mandalorians led by Rook Kast and Gar Saxon. Kast has already appeared in teaser trailers selling Maul: Shadow Lord, and appears as if she’ll be serving as Maul’s proper hand. Though she reveals up in a number of Clone Wars episodes, Son of Dathomir supplies a lot deeper perception into why Kast stays loyal to Maul regardless of him not being a Mandalorian.
Nevertheless, the most important motive why Son of Dathomir must be your one-stop earlier than heading into Maul: Shadow Lord is that it expands on Maul’s management of the Shadow Collective (a prison alliance made up of a number of syndicates like Crimson Daybreak, Pykes, and Black Solar) and the inner strife that resides inside the group.
All through the remainder of the 4 points, Son of Dathomir establishes that the Shadow Collective is seen as a direct risk to Sidious and his aim for galactic domination. There are a number of battles between the Separatists — together with fan-favorite Basic Grievous — towards a number of of the crime syndicates within the Shadow Collective. All through, increasingly more of Maul’s allies inside the Collective grow to be involved that the combat towards the Sith and Separatists is extra problem than it’s value, as it’s costing them time, lives, and credit.
We gained’t spoil what occurs subsequent in Son of Dathomir. However contemplating that by the point The Siege of Mandalore unfolds and leaves a number of of the crime syndicates scrambling to enchantment to Sidious as a brand new Galactic Empire rises, you possibly can safely assume that Mau’s plans don’t work out fairly as he hoped.
Quick-forward to shortly after Revenge of the Sith, and Maul: Shadow Lord sees the fallen crime boss attempting to rebuild his empire on the seedy city-planet, Janix. We’ve already seen within the trailers that he’ll be going up towards some very recognizable organizations, together with the Pykes, which suggests he has some very private scores to settle. When you learn Son of Dathomir, you’ll get to see simply how private they’re by the point the primary two episodes debut on Apr. 6 on Disney Plus.
