The First Clip From STAR WARS: MAUL - SHADOW LORD Goes Hard With “Duel of the Fates”
Lucasfilm just gave fans their first real taste of Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord, and it’s all about setting the tone right out of the gate. This isn’t easing you into Maul’s story. It’s kicking the door open and reminding you exactly who you’re dealing with.
The first clip from Maul: Shadow Lord has arrived ahead of its Disney+ premiere on April 6, offering a look at the next chapter in Star Wars animation.
Following in the footsteps of The Bad Batch, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars: Resistance, the series picks up after The Clone Wars and follows Maul as he works to rebuild his influence across the galaxy’s criminal syndicates. Sam Witwer returns to voice the character, continuing his long-running connection to the fan-favorite villain, and his entrance is exactly what you’d hope for.
The clip drops us early into the first episode, where Maul makes it clear this is his show. What really drives the moment home, though, is the music. “Duel of the Fates” comes in strong, instantly giving the scene a larger-than-life energy that longtime fans will recognize immediately.
“Duel of the Fates” didn’t play when the artist formerly known as Darth Maul first appeared in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, but it did play over his most famous entrance in that movie, as he’s getting ready to duel against Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
It has since very much become associated with the emotion of the moment, and playing it here very grandly is a pretty awesome needle drop.
It’s a great call to use the track here, and hopefully it’s a one-time thing. Music like that works best when it’s treated as something special. Bring it back too often and it starts to lose what makes it hit so hard in the first place.
We already know how Maul’s story eventually ends, thanks to his encounter with Obi-Wan Kenobi years later. But Shadow Lord is exploring a time when he’s still building, still dangerous, and still pulling strings in the underworld.
If this clip is anything to go by, the series is leaning all the way into that version of the character.
So what do you think? Are you ready to jump into Maul’s next chapter with Shadow Lord? What are you hoping to see from the series? Let us know!