By George & Josh Bate
Nearly 30 years after making his first appearance and becoming the face of the beloved Star Wars prequel trilogy, Maul makes yet another triumphant return, this time in the form of a highly anticipated animated series debuting April 6 on Disney+.
The HoloFiles and Star Wars Holocron recently had the opportunity to speak with Maul – Shadow Lord stars Sam Witwer and Gideon Adlon about making the first Star Wars series in which the protagonist is a villain, Witwer’s unique role as a consulting producer, humanizing Maul without redeeming him, creating an Order 66 survivor different from those we’ve seen before, and more.
Maul – Shadow Lord takes place approximately one year after the events of The Clone Wars Season 7. Maul (Sam Witwer) found a way to escape the clutches of the Republic by taking advantage of the chaos of Order 66 and has since set his sights on exacting revenge against those who wronged him, beginning with the crime syndicates that abandoned him and his Shadow Collective on Mandalore. This pursuit takes him to Janix, a neon-colored metropolis and refuge for a young Jedi named Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon), who may be the key to Maul’s success.
A life-long Star Wars fan, Witwer first became a member of a galaxy far, far away nearly 20 years ago, when he played Galen Marek in the fan-favorite video game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. A few years later, Witwer took on the role of Maul, the devil-like Zabrak who George Lucas decided to unexpectedly revive following his death by bifurcation in The Phantom Menace. Over the last 14 years, Witwer has become synonymous with Maul, portraying the tragic and complex figure across multiple television shows and games.
While positioned as an antagonist to face off against the likes of Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and Ezra in the past, Maul – Shadow Lord takes a different approach to Maul in making him the lead character of a full-fledged, high-profile television series. This will mark the first time that a villain has served as the protagonist of a Star Wars decision, a groundbreaking shift in the creative process for a studio that has masterminded beloved stories for nearly 50 years.
When asked how he and the creative team approached making a show about a villain that humanizes but does not redeem nor do a disservice to the character, Witwer responded, “More tricky than you think, man. That’s been the whole question this whole time, right? How do we pull this off? Because that’s tricky. No one wants to make a show about a guy that goes around hurting people. That’s a bummer, right?”
“We are flirting closer to the dark side that we’ve ever flirted.”
Maul – Shadow Lord grants Star Wars fans unprecedented access to the inner-workings and psychology of Maul, a character typically shrouded in mystery and uttered just three lines in his first appearance. “For my part, I suppose I need to break Maul open even more personally so that you got to know him even better than you got to know him in the other shows,” Witwer explained. “We may not agree with what we does, but hopefully we understand why he thinks he needs to do it. And, if we do our job right, it’s a cautionary tale. He’s sometimes making choices that are just not great choices, but, in his world, they’re the only choice. It’s the only thing he can do.”
In focusing on a deeply troubled and rageful character, Maul – Shadow Lord pushes Star Wars animation into darker territory than ever before. “We are flirting closer to the dark side that we’ve ever flirted,” Witwer noted. “But, at the same time, I hope that it’s clear that this character is not a happy, actualized human being. He’s struggling and he’s getting in his own way a lot. It’s tricky. It’s tricky to strike that tone.”
To ensure that a series about a villain does not become too bleak, Maul – Shadow Lord introduces several new characters, who play pivotal roles in the series. One of these new characters is Devon Izara, a pink-skinned Twi’lek Jedi and survivor of Order 66. Alongside her master Eeko-Dio Daki, Devon finds herself inadvertently caught in the middle of Maul’s grand plan for revenge as the former Sith lord believes making her his apprentice may be the key to his success.
Unlike Witwer, who enters Maul – Shadow Lord with nearly 20 years of experience in Star Wars projects, Devon Izara voice actress Gideon Adlon takes her first steps into a galaxy far, far away with the new series. Adlon identified that the potential master-apprentice relationship between her character and Maul in the show mirrored the mentorship role Witwer played for her behind-the-scenes. “Joining it to do the work felt very natural,” Adlon reflected. “I was supported and it’s been so lovely, because, as Sam has been saying so kindly about me, I go all in. Sam goes all in, and seeing somebody turn into this iconic character right in front of your face has been incredible. I’m nervous about the press part. I’m nervous about talking about it, but Sam is there to back me up, and he’s taught me so much. And so I’m less nervous about this whole craziness that Star Wars is as a newbie actually because I have Sam with me.”
Despite this being Adlon’s first foray in the Star Wars universe, Witwer was impressed with how extensively the Miller’s Girl and The Craft: Legacy actress took ownership of the role of Devon Izara. “She’s so self-possessed and so talented and so able to use her tools the way that she wants to use them,” Witwer remarked. “I remember early on there was some early session and, Gideon, there was something that we were doing and Gideon just was like, ‘Well, wait a second. I think she would do this.’ She was owning the character just very early on. Just absolutely like, ‘Well, this is my character.’ She was, again, experiencing the scene, committing to the scene, feeling the emotions of the character, and performing beautifully, and she did such an amazing job of making that particular to her. She knew exactly what she was doing when she walked in. It was incredible.”
Adlon’s character in Maul – Shadow Lord is far from the first survivor of Order 66 that Star Wars has focused on. Obi-Wan Kenobi followed its titular character as he navigated life after the fall of the Jedi Order, as did the video games Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor. But Devon represents a different kind of Order 66 survivor, unlike any we’ve previously seen. While previous projects have primarily portrayed the struggles of the Jedi in the Imperial era rather overtly, typically as they are hunted by Inquisitors, Maul – Shadow Lord does something more nuanced in detailing previously unaddressed ways in which the reign of the Empire affects the lives of surviving Jedi, including posing difficulties to having basic needs (including food and shelter) met.
“She’s very reflective and recognizes that sometimes you have to do things that maybe you shunned or that there’s not much happiness looked upon in order to survive in a world that is crumbling around you a bit,” Adlon explained in discussing the ways in which Devon must break from her moral code to survive under Imperial reign. “There’s so many people in this world now that will relate to her on many levels. And one of them is: what will we do for survival? How far will we go? What morals that we’ve followed will we go against to protect the people that we love, to protect ourselves?”
“We have Dave Filoni watching over us as George [Lucas] watched over us back in the day.”
In addition to voicing Maul, Witwer takes on a unique behind-the-scenes role as he is also credited as a Consulting Producer on the new series. Witwer explained what this newfound creative role entailed. “It’s a character that’s been around for a while,” explained the Illinois native, “So keeping him authentic was very important to Lucasfilm, and they were very, very generous in giving me a seat at the table to discuss how Maul might thread the needle through some of these story points. It’s making sure that the character is authentic to what it is that we’ve seen in the 16 years that he’s been around on my watch, but they’ve been great.”
By ‘they,’ Witwer is referred to the stacked creative team masterminding Maul – Shadow Lord. This includes executive producer Athena Yvette Portillo, who Witwer described as a “gunslinger of a producer,” head writer and executive producer Matt Michnovetz, and executive producer and supervising director Brad Rau.
Newly anointed Co-President of Lucasfilm Dave Filoni created Maul – Shadow Lord and oversaw its development. “Of course, we have Dave Filoni watching over us as George [Lucas] watched over us back in the day,” Witwer acknowledged. “And Dave is the king of big ideas. He’s so great at pushing us to go further and further and further. And he created the show, so ultimately my role is to serve those visions and make sure that this character’s journey is authentic and interesting and I’ve loved my collaboration with everyone. It’s been great.”
After years of lurking in the shadows, Maul marks his 26th anniversary by headlining a series of his own, one that is decidedly darker and yet, as is always the case with Lucasfilm Animation, the product of meticulous attention to detail. Star Wars fans will embrace new sides to the Sith lord-turned-crime lord when Maul – Shadow Lord premieres on April 6.
Watch the full interview with Sam Witwer and Gideon Adlon below….
