After 27 years, Maul – Shadow Lord finally gives us one of the most anticipated Star Wars showdowns, but with a twist
Maul – Shadow Lord has come to an end, and it's quite the explosive conclusion, featuring a major cameo and a lightsaber duel Star Wars fans have been waiting for ever since The Phantom Menace.
The show has followed Maul's attempts to rebuild the Shadow Collective and reassert control over his criminal empire, alongside trying to recruit Jedi Padawan Devon Izara as his apprentice. In the Maul – Shadow Lord ending, everything comes together… and, in the process, we get a Star Wars showdown almost three decades in the making.
Article continues belowThe Darth Vader Maul – Shadow Lord cameo explained
In episode 8 of Shadow Lord, as Maul and his unlikely allies attempt to flee Janix, Rook Kast is suddenly dragged into the mist by an unseen foe and killed. Soon after, we hear that distinctive mechanical breathing: it's none other than Darth Vader.
Maul, Eeko-Dio Daki, and Devon Izara battle the fearsome Sith Lord in the finale, and Daki is killed by him when Maul betrays the Jedi Master and Force pushes him closer to Vader. This devastates Devon, and it also makes her angry enough to eventually accept Maul's offer to train her, potentially setting her up to become Talon in Maul – Shadow Lord season 2.
While Maul does battle Vader and eventually collapses a building on him to escape, he never figures out Vader's true identity as Anakin Skywalker. Of course, hardly anyone in the galaxy knows the truth at this point on the Star Wars timeline, but Maul has a very good reason to connect the dots. In the Siege of Mandalore Clone Wars arc, he attempted to lure Anakin to Mandalore to kill him and prevent the Jedi from becoming Darth Sidious's apprentice, as Maul had foreseen the fall of the Republic. But, Ahsoka Tano arrived instead, which foiled Maul's plan.
In Shadow Lord, Maul and Vader finally come face to face. This is the first time in the Star Wars canon that these dark siders have met, apart from two brief moments in The Phantom Menace when they are in the same location (though, Anakin is 10 years old at the time). They have another near miss in Star Wars Rebels, which is set many years after Shadow Lord, when Maul is nearby as Vader duels his former apprentice, Ahsoka (AKA Snips).
Sign up for the Total Film NewsletterThe Shadow Lord battle, then, is a huge deal, since Maul was once Sidious's apprentice just like Vader, and Maul harbors a lot of resentment over being replaced after he was defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi. And, since Maul foresaw Anakin's fall to the dark side, this is vindication for the ex-Sith that he was right all along.
But, in a surprise twist, Maul does not realize that Vader is Anakin Skywalker in the Shadow Lord finale. At first, Maul is baffled by the Sith Lord, musing that Vader is no Inquisitor. Once he figures out that Vader is indeed a Sith, he encourages Devon to use her anger as the only way to defeat this new threat, pointing out that he himself was trained by a Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, so he knows what he's talking about.
By the end of the episode, as Maul and Devon escape Vader, Maul still doesn't seem to have put two and two together and worked out that Anakin Skywalker lives and has become Darth Vader. It would seem this particular revelation is being saved for later, perhaps in Maul – Shadow Lord season 2. It's no surprise that Maul might not figure it out straight away, either, as, after the events of Revenge of the Sith, Anakin is thought dead: even Obi-Wan doesn't learn Anakin lives for a few more years, as seen in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show.
What the Shadow Lord duel does give us, however, is an answer to the question of who would win if Maul and Vader ever clashed blades. Unfortunately for Maul, the answer is extremely obvious: Vader easily handles him, Devon, and Daki with his brute strength, and it's all Maul and Devon can do to escape. In this way, the fight is very reminiscent of Cal Kestis's battle with Vader in Jedi Fallen Order.
We'll just have to wait and see to find out when Maul will realize he was right about Anakin Skywalker all along, but, for now, this clash is more than enough to tide us over.
You can catch up with Maul's story with our guide on how to watch The Clone Wars in order, or see our roundup of all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows.
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I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film section. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.
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