Fans are split over the animation style used in Disney's upcoming Star Wars: The Clone Wars sequel. Lucasfilm Animation returns to streaming on April 6 with the release of Maul: Shadow Lord, a streaming series focused explicitly on the fan-favorite Sith lord in the years following Order 66. While the show will be a wholly new adventure, it features a mostly familiar art style, drawing on the acclaimed Clone Wars series (which it will also be continuing the story of).
The star-faring franchise offered up a first taste of this new animated adventure thanks to a recently released debut trailer, showing off not only what the upcoming Clone Wars sequel will look like but what fans can also expect from its planet-hopping post-Revenge of the Sith story (including a possible tease of Maul's new apprentice).
Things have not been all sunshine and rainbows since the trailer's release, however. The new sneak peek drove a wedge right down the middle of the Star Wars fanbase, sparking debate over the show's bespoke art style.
The painterly animation once again closely mimics that of The Clone Wars series. This 3D animation style has become a staple of Star Wars animated titles, appearing in all three seasons of The Bad Batch and the hit Tales Of... anthology series.
Some fans praised Lucasfilm for returning to the familiar looks, calling the series' overall aesthetic "incredible" and "stunning." Meanwhile, others have not taken so well to the return of the familiar animated palette.
Detractors of the choice to return to the Clone Wars art style have been plenty. "I don't like it," reads one lengthy Reddit post on the new series. "No matter what characters look flat... [and] they bend and stretch at times, or they just jerk around," the Star Wars fan added.
More than 15 years after The Clone Wars debuted this house look, a certain contingent of the Lucasfilm faithful grew dismayed at the studio's eagerness to return to it rather than develop something wholly new. Suggestions for where the franchise could go with a new style of animation include returning to the look of Genndy Tartakovsky's original 2D Clone Wars short or even developing something in the look of the classic Rankin-Bass claymation Christmas specials.
Maul: Shadow Lord follows the titular twin-sabered prequels character in the years following the fall of the Jedi. Now with a lack of purpose in his life, Maul ventures to the far reaches of the Outer Rim to try to rebuild his criminal empire in a galaxy now under Imperial rule. The show comes from Clone Wars creator Dave Filoni and head writer Matt Michnovetz of the classic Star Wars series. It once again stars Sam Witwer as the iconic Sith Lord, along with a star-studded cast that includes Gideon Adlon, Wagner Moura, and Richard Ayoade (read more about the Maul: Shadow Lord cast here).
The Maul: Shadow Lord Art Style Is More Different Than We Are Giving It Credit For
At first glance, it is not hard to see where the Clone Wars comparisons are coming from in relation to Maul: Shadow Lord. It is not as though the series has some wholly new animated look like Star Wars Rebels did, but it may be a bit more different than fans are giving it credit for.
There is a level of nostalgia baked into any look back at the Clone Wars animation style. If one goes back and looks at the classic Star Wars show, it is immediately apparent just how much Shadow Lord stands out.
Yes, the foundation is built upon The Clone Wars (and being a direct follow-up, why wouldn't it?). However, there are flourishes that make the 2026 animated release unique in its own right. The biggest of these differences comes in its distinctive use of painted brush strokes across the world.
The trailer reveals small 2D painted flourishes throughout its lighting, backgrounds, and shadows.
Commenting on how different Maul:" Shadow Lord actually is from The Clone Wars, Executive Producer and Vice President of Lucasfilm Animation, Athena Portillo, revealed that it is not actually a direct copy/paste. In a conversation with StarWars.com, Protillo remarked, "We also wanted the animation body mechanics and the facial to be more fluid from our previous work:"
"There's always different challenges with every show that we do, but this one in particular raised the bar. We also wanted the animation body mechanics and the facial to be more fluid from our previous work, and animation director Keith Kellogg worked closely with CGCG and our internal animation team to upgrade the performances of our main characters."
One of the ways the Maul team achieved this in the Clone Wars sequel, according to the Lucasfilm executive, was to return "to establishing matte paintings on canvas" while emphasizing "capturing brush strokes by painting them on glass:"
"Cinematography Lighting & VFX Director Joel Aron really took it up a notch with going back to the practical ways of capturing brush strokes by painting them on glass, shooting them then strategically placing them in shots...He even went back to establishing matte paintings on canvas."
So, yes, there is a similarity to The Clone Wars art style, but it is not a direct recreation of the classic series; it brings its own unique flair to that look, just as each Pixar movie iterates on the house style.
