Star Wars prequels fans can rejoice, as a crucial character from The Phantom Menace is getting a sequel series that sounds brilliant.
Over the last few years, Star Wars fans have tried to be kinder to The Phantom Menace. While the film originally drew a lot of criticism in 1999, it has faced a sort of critical reassessment in more recent times.
One character in particular that fans can agree on is the film's main villain, Darth Maul.
He was apparently killed off by Obi-Wan Kenobi at the end of the film, but Lucasfilm brought him back in several new series and films.
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Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace came out in 1999.
After the character appeared in The Clone Wars and Rebels, the ending of Solo: A Star Wars Story set Maul up as a new recurring villain for future Star Wars films.
It was even George Lucas' original idea for the sequel trilogy to feature Maul as a returning villain, but these plans were scrapped following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm.
Now, the studio has announced a new Maul-centric animated series titled Maul - Shadow Lord, which will be coming to Disney Plus (thanks, CBM).
The show will take place in the period between the prequels and the original trilogy, featuring Maul training a red Twi'lek apprentice.
Maul - Shadow Lord will also apparently reuse ideas from Lucas' original sequel trilogy treatment.
In the unused notes for these films, Maul becomes "the godfather of crime in the universe" and is the master of Darth Talon, another character from Legends that will seemingly make their way to the new canon.
While these plans were originally for a sequel to Return of the Jedi, Maul can't appear in any projects set during this era. Star Wars Rebels killed off the character for good at the hands of Obi-Wan.
Hopefully the new Maul series should fill in some gaps in the character's backstory.
Multiple story arcs in The Clone Wars already detail what he gets up to between the end of The Phantom Menace and Solo, but there's still a lot to explore.
Maul - Shadow Lord will debut on Disney Plus in 2026.
