In 1999 many people came out of movie theaters disappointed with the movie they watched but feeling the lasting impact of a new villain on screen, Darth Maul.
Star Wars the Phantom Menace is one of the most divisive Star Wars films, especially when it came out. People had been watching the original trilogy with its last film coming out more than a decade prior. The film had complaints on its over reliance on special effects, the drastic shift to a series full of politics, less than stellar acting, and the annoying Jar Jar Binks. It had however gained the interest of a lot of new fans for Star Wars. One character that was mysterious and unique was Darth Maul. He is seen hooded in a few parts of the film but at the end he takes it off, showing his red tattooed skin; horns; and most importantly, his double bladed lightsaber. We see an amazing duel with him pitted against the jedi in the film, Obi Wan Kenobi and Qui Gon Jinn. He even kills Qui Gon Jinn in the fight. He is then cut in half by Obi Wan and falls down a bottomless pit of a reactor.
People loved his unique fighting style and silent character. And though he was great, he was killed off in this film and wasn’t seen again, until he wasn’t dead. Star Wars The Clone Wars is a 7 season long animated show airing from 2008 to 2020. It showed the journeys of many characters from the films between episode 2 and 3 as well as many newly introduced characters. One big change that happened in season 4 with us learning that Darth Maul has survived his encounter with Kenobi out of pure anger through his brother, Savage Opress. He starts off his revival killing jedi and causing mayhem across the war in search of Obi Wan Kenobi. He fights him once and wins with Kenobi escaping and trapping Maul and Savage in space. They are rescued by a mandalorian terrorist group called Deathwatch and he helps them take control of their home world. He kills the leader of the group and becomes ruler of Mandalore with his new criminal syndicate, Crimson Dawn. He kills Obi Wan’s only true love and forces him off of Mandalore. He does get into a fight with his former master Darth Sideous who kills Savage and leaves Maul to suffer in mourning. In the final season Ahsoka Tano is brought back to the Republic after leaving to take back Mandalore and capture Maul. She duels with him and successfully captures him and takes control of the planet. Order 66 happens and Ahsoka frees Maul while on the ship to be a distraction. He forces the cruiser to crash but escapes and searches to regain control. 
During the era of the Empire, he generally kept a low profile and made a few appearances. Solo a Star Wars Story is a strange film in Star Wars history. It follows Han Solo dealing with Crimson Dawn and, in the end, Maul makes a live action appearance over hologram but has no truly large implications. We then see him one last time in the chronology in Star Wars Rebels. He shows up as a mysterious figure and tries to turn the powerful main character of the show, Ezra Bridger, to the dark side and even fights with him, Ahsoka, and Kanan Jarrus. He is successful in fighting off the other characters until they are forced to leave. He tracks down Obi Wan Kenobi to Tatooine where he is stationed to protect Luke Skywalker. In one quick but well choreographed duel, Maul is killed and dies in the arms of the person he spent so much time trying to kill.
Being a fan-favorite character, it only makes sense that a new show, Maul Shadow Lord, is coming out focusing on him, again in the age of the Empire, before Rebels where he will be combating Imperial troops, Inquisitors, and Jedi. The finale of this show will air on Disney Plus on May 4, 2026 which is Star Wars day. The show so far has met critical acclaim and currently, before the airing of the finale, has 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and 8.6/10 on IMDB.
