The official release schedule for Maul: Shadow Lord has been revealed by Star Wars, and it will be unlike anything the franchise has done before. A new Disney+ series titled Maul: Shadow Lord is set for a 2026 release and will be set between Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. The show will follow Maul as he tries to stay out of the Empire's eyes.
Star Wars recently revealed the first full trailer for Maul: Shadow Lord, as well as the full release schedule for all of the show's episodes. Specifically, the series will have a two-episode premiere on April 6, 2026. Then, two episodes will be released each week on Mondays until the final two episodes air on Monday, May 4, 2026. Notably, this means that Maul: Shadow Lord will wrap up on Star Wars Day.
Because Maul will release two episodes per week, this is the first time that a Star Wars series has followed that type of release schedule. Notably, it is also the first time that a Star Wars show will premiere all of its episodes on a Monday.
This specific strategy allows fans to consume multiple episodes each week, but also makes sure that the show has a presence over a five-week span, which is something it may not have if it were to drop all its episodes at once.
This is not the only time that a Star Wars project has been released on a Monday. For example, Young Jedi Adventures Season 3 had a binge release (all of the episodes came out at the same time) on a Monday in December 2025, and Skeleton Crew's first two episodes premiered on a Monday (but then the rest of the episodes dropped on Tuesdays). So, Maul: Shadow Lord is the first time in Star Wars history that a show will have a weekly release scheduled for Mondays.
Ahead are the other specific release strategies Star Wars has used for past Disney+ shows:
The 5 Main Ways Star Wars Has Released Its Disney+ Shows
Full-Season Binge Release
- Tales of the Jedi
- Tales of the Empire
- Tales of the Underworld
- Young Jedi Adventures Season 3
- Star Wars: Visions Seasons 1-3
Five total Star Wars shows have released every episode of a season all at the same time, and, most notably, all of them are animated projects. The Tales shows began with Tales of the Jedi releasing all six episodes on May 4, 2022. After that, it became somewhat of a tradition for another Tales show to come out in subsequent years on May 4.
Notably, Young Jedi Adventures only had one season that had a full-season binge release, and that was with the third and final installment. Seasons 1 and 2 of that show released batches of episodes at a time, but never a full season at once.
It is also worth noting that Star Wars: Visions is the only multi-season series (if the Tales titles are considered separate shows) where every season has been given a full-season binge release.
Weekly Release
- The Mandalorian Seasons 1-3
- The Bad Batch Season 1
- The Book of Boba Fett
Strangely, only three Star Wars shows and five seasons in total have had a traditional weekly release strategy rather than a full-season binge release. On top of that, it is fairly telling that the only shows that implemented this release schedule were the first two live-action Star Wars Disney+ shows.
Obviously, Disney and Lucasfilm weren't happy with how the shows performed. If they were, more shows that were released more recently would likely have weekly releases where there is only one episode per week. The last time that a Star Wars show used this strategy was March 1, 2023 for The Mandalorian Season 3.
It is possible that it may not have even used that particular release schedule if past seasons of the show hadn't followed it first.
Two-Episode Premiere Followed by Weekly Release
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- The Acolyte
- Skeleton Crew
- Ahsoka
Some Star Wars shows are very similar to traditional weekly release shows, with the only difference being that two episodes come out on the premiere date instead of just once.
This is the most popular release strategy for Star Wars on Disney+. A lot of times, exposition makes up a large portion of the first two episodes of a TV series, so if those first two episodes come out on the same week, then fans can get right into the action or the conflict in week 2 instead of week 3. In short, Disney and Lucasfilm feel as though this strategy helps audience retention from week to week.
Batch Release
- Andor Season 2
- Young Jedi Adventures Seasons 1 and 2
The batch release is not as popular as the other strategies. This is when a batch of episodes is released at a certain time, and then, sometime later, another batch comes out.
In Andor Season 2's case, three episodes were in a batch, and they were released across four separate weeks. This was done to serve the story Season 2 told, as there was a one-year gap in-universe between each batch of episodes. Most likely, the batch release will rarely be used in the future.
Bi-Weekly/Weekly Hybrid Release
- The Bad Batch Season 2
The Bad Batch Season 2 had an extremely unique release schedule. Instead of having a two-episode premiere or a weekly release, The Bad Batch combined them. Season 2 started with a two-episode premiere. After that, one episode was released each week. However, Episodes 7 and 8 were released on the same day.
Then, one episode was released each week again, until the season finale. There was a two-part season finale that was released on the same day. This is the only instance of something like this happening with a Star Wars TV show, and it likely won't be replicated.
Three-Episode Premiere Followed by Weekly Release
- Andor Season 1
The first season of Andor had a unique release schedule where there was a three-episode premiere followed by one episode released every week. This was done so that fans could consume the entire first arc of the season and get excited for the rest of the installment.
If Andor Season 2 had had a more condensed timeline, it likely would have followed this same release schedule.
Three-Episode Premiere Followed by Bi-Weekly/Weekly Hybrid Release
- The Bad Batch Season 3
Each season of The Bad Batch had a different release strategy, but the third and final season was undoubtedly the craziest. Bad Batch Season 3 started with a three-episode premiere, so the first three episodes all came out on the same day.
After that, the show followed a weekly release schedule until Episodes 6 and 7, which came out on the same day. Then, the show went back to a weekly release schedule until Episodes 10 and 11. Those two, like Episodes 6 and 7, came out on the same day. Season 3 then returned to a weekly release schedule all the way through the season finale.
