We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Spoilers ahead for “Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord” Season 1, Episodes 7 and 8.

The latest episodes of “Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord” show Maul (Sam Witwer) at his lowest in this series so far. With Marrok/the First Brother (A. J. LoCascio) calling in backup and them laying waste to Maul’s escape plans, the latter’s in a pretty bad spot. As Maul focuses his rage, his thoughts turn to the person he blames for the way his life has gone: his former master Darth Sidious, who now has his boot on the neck of the entire galaxy as Emperor Palpatine (in spite of what Maul knows about him).

Maul shifting the blame for his failures to others is nothing new. But this time, we are given a fresh way of looking at it, as Maul thinks back to his earlier days and we’re able to glimpse them with him, seeing the tragedy of his childhood for the first time on screen.

There has been much speculation as to when Darth Sidious took Maul to train as his apprentice. The book “Star Wars Timelines” estimates it to be sometime in Maul’s early teen years. Assorted “Star Wars” artwork and comics have portrayed Maul as being either a child or infant at the time, but the story implications of such a thing have always felt a little absurd. It stands to reason, though, that if the Jedi take apprentices as toddlers, why not the Sith? On the other hand, the Jedi typically refused to train individuals after a certain age because of the dangers of them turning to the dark side, so perhaps taking older children and preying on the emotional impact of that loss makes a certain sort of sense.

In the eighth episode of “Maul — Shadow Lord,” however, we finally get to witness the moment when Sidious first took on Maul as his student. It turns out that Maul and his brother, Savage Opress, were still together at the time, and they seem to be in the 9-12 year old age range (assuming Nightbrothers age similarly to humans). We watch as Sidious literally wrenches Maul from his brother as the pair cry out for each other. It’s painfully heartbreaking to watch these two ripped from one another like a pair of bonded kittens.

In retrospect, this does make Maul and Savage’s reunion in the animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” much more heartfelt. Of course, it also makes the moment when Sidious slays Savage in front of Maul on that show all the more distressing.

And here we are, having complicated emotions for one of the biggest evil-doers in the entire “Star Wars” franchise.

This episode really got to the emotional core of Maul’s inner damage and peeled back a layer of his psyche to show us why he does what he does. And it makes perfect sense. Make no mistake, these are not excuses for Maul; he is a grown adult and responsible for his own horrible decisions and the abuse he perpetrates. Now, suddenly, we can understand why he’s making those decisions a little bit — not that we’d find ourselves in his shoes making those same decisions (like some might find themselves in Anakin Skywalker’s as he struggles to save his wife, Padmé Amidala), but Maul has become a bit easier to understand.

As Maul in this episode, Sam Witwer delivers one of the most heartbreaking and haunting lines the character has ever uttered. “I won’t let him do this to anyone else,” he says with respect to his old master, vowing to stop Sidious/Palpatine once and for all. We know that he’s ultimately unsuccessful in his attempt, but the “Star Wars” franchise has a way of re-contextualizing previously told stories. So, perhaps there’s a way that Maul’s suffering and mission to foil Palpatine could still benefit those that need help in ending the reign of the Sith.

The final two episodes of “Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord” Season 1 release on Monday, May 4, 2026, on Disney+. Season 2 has been announced, but it has yet to receive a premiere date.