A new animated Star Wars series could be focusing on Darth Maul

Star Wars fans are about to be seriously spoiled in 2022 when it comes to Star Wars storytelling on their television screens. But another report suggests that there’s even more in store in the future for Star Wars on Disney+.

According to Jordan Maison of Cinelinx, he has heard from multiple sources that a new Star Wars animated series is already in the works, and it will be centered on everyone’s favorite red-skinned Sith, Darth Maul.

While Maison admits he does not have any story details or any specific timelines for the show right now, he reports that sources have told him that voice recordings have been underway with Star Wars voice actors such as Dee Bradley Baker (voice of various Clone Troopers in animated Star Wars shows), Matt Lanter (voice of Anakin Skywalker in The Clone Wars), and Sam Witwer (voice of Darth Maul in The Clone Wars and Rebels).

Now, he states he has heard from a pair of independent sources that the recordings are for a separate show focused on Maul, not for a second season of The Bad Batch or anything else.

One source specifically told Maison that the show would take place after the events of The Clone Wars but before Maul’s brief appearance at the end of the Solo: A Star Wars Story film. Presumably, the show would focus on Maul’s time running the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate and how he fared in the criminal underworld.

Maul’s return?

There are two large gaps in Maul’s story currently that are ripe with potential for a Star Wars show. We don’t know what happened between the time we saw him escape from Ahsoka Tano and Rex in the series finale of The Clone Wars and his cameo at the end of Solo when it was revealed he was the leader of Crimson Dawn. Nor do we know what caused him to go from a boss in the criminal underworld in that appearance in Solo to a hermit on Malachor in season two of Rebels.

Either section of Maul’s life would make for an interesting story, but Maison reports that it’s the former of those two that will be covered. Maison also speculates that Paul Bettany is expected to come back to voice Dryden Vos, the main on-screen antagonist for much of Solo, in this animated series.

Star Wars is set to have a slate of Disney+ shows in 2022 and shortly after, with The Book of Boba Fett, Star Wars: Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: The Acolyte, season 2 of The Bad Batch, and season 3 of The Mandalorian all coming down the pike.

That’s a full schedule of TV shows coming up for the franchise, but only one of those — The Bad Batch — is an animated show. Lucasfilm Animation could have another show up their sleeve to go along with the second season of that show to try and balance out the live-action offerings with animated programming.

Hopefully new details will emerge about the potential series focusing on Maul, and we hopefully will get to see what the Zabrak was up to in the early years of the Empire.