A brand-new Star Wars series arriving this year is poised to finally deliver the gritty, ground-level storytelling George Lucas once envisioned for Star Wars: Underworld. Originally announced in 2005, Underworld was designed as a live-action drama set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, exploring the criminal underbelly of the Galaxy Far, Far Away. But by 2010, the series was shelved due to budget limitations, and two years later, Lucas sold the rights to Disney.
As Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord approaches its April premiere, it's becoming clearer that this is the definitive spiritual successor to Lucas' canned Underworld project.
Shadow Lord bypasses the astronomical budget that originally derailed Lucas' live-action vision, but the show recreates the neon-drenched atmosphere of the galactic fringe set just one year after Order 66.
This unconventional comparison was only deepened by comic book writer Benjamin Percy. Speaking with SFX Magazine about the prequel comic Shadow of Maul, which leads directly into the new TV series, Percy called this part of Maul's story "gritty and grounded:"
"Outside of the original trilogy, I like 'Andor' and 'Rogue One' the best. They're science fiction, but they're also spy thrillers and are gritty and grounded. 'Shadow of Maul' is also gritty and grounded, but our sci-fi story is Trojan-horsed inside of a police procedural."
For Percy, the world-building isn't just about geography; it's about capturing the specific, gritty texture of a "neo-noir" nightmare where the environment includes "neon lights, dark alleys, vents belching steam, underground nightclubs and backroom deals:"
"There are also several other crime syndicates, who rule Janix, as well as some corruption inside of their own squad. There's neon lights, dark alleys, vents belching steam, underground nightclubs and backroom deals. This is neo-noir to the core, and Janix is a character in this story as well as a location."
If The Clone Wars functioned as a war epic and The Bad Batch pushed that forward in the Order 66 aftermath, Shadow Lord's central tension isn't good versus evil, but bad versus worse.
Chronologically, the series occupies the exact "Dark Times" era Lucas originally targeted, when the Jedi were gone, and the Empire was still consolidating power.
Under Disney's ownership, Lucasfilm has explored this period between Episodes III and IV extensively, through comic books, video games, and most notably, Rogue One and Andor.
While 2025's Tales of the Underworld successfully salvaged specific visual cues and lore from the cancelled Lucas archives, its anthology format offered only disjointed glimpses into the criminal fringe rather than a sustained narrative.
In Shadow Lord, the story is expected to follow Maul as he reassesses his role in helping bring about Palpatine's regime, only to realize the mechanical, militant Empire is not the Force-centered order he once envisioned.
Disillusioned but still dangerous, he will begin rebuilding his criminal influence, potentially taking on a new apprentice while navigating a world where the underworld is in chaos.
What once required blockbuster-scale live-action resources can now be realized through stylized, new-age animation, allowing Lucasfilm to finally execute an Underworld-style TV series.
George Lucas' Lasting Impact on Star Wars
The architecture of the modern Star Wars galaxy remains firmly rooted in the ideas George Lucas produced decades ago. Even as the franchise ventures into new territory in 2026, the creative core consistently returns to the foundational themes of power, family, and the great balance of Light and Dark within the Force.
Projects like The Mandalorian and Grogu exemplify this, utilizing characters with deep connections to the Original Trilogy, like Grogu or Rotta the Hutt.
Now, with Dave Filoni serving as President and Chief Creative Officer, Lucas' "Padawan" will likely continue to honor the original stories. 2027's Star Wars: Starfighter might bring back some of that magic, with Ryan Gosling joining the franchise and returning to the iconic "father-son dynamic" of the Skywalker Saga.
For many fans, they want Star Wars to get back to the feeling associated with pre-Disney, and a project like Maul – Shadow Lord should help that.
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