Star Wars has unveiled its updated movie & television timeline order while confirming where Maul - Shadow Lord fits into the overall chronology. Since the Disney+ show's announcement, fans knew that Maul - Shadow Lord would be set sometime during the early days of the Galactic Empire. A fairly large gap existed in Maul's story between his final appearance in The Clone Wars Season 7 and his return in Star Wars Rebels Season 2, but Star Wars let everyone know which other titles the upcoming series follows or precedes.
On the official Star Wars website, the timeline of events and the chronological order of each canon project (excluding the books) were updated to reflect Maul - Shadow Lord's place within them. Specifically, the timeline shows the exact era Shadow Lord fits in, as well as which particular titles it is set between.
According to the timeline, Maul - Shadow Lord is set during the Reign of the Empire era. That is no surprise, as fans knew it would take place sometime between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. But it was confirmed to be in the earlier days of the rise of the Empire. For example, there are 13 projects within that era, and Maul - Shadow Lord is the fourth in terms of its chronology.
It was also revealed that Shadow Lord will be set between the events of The Bad Batch and the Jedi: Fallen Order video game. For those who have not played the game or are not familiar with its story, it takes place just before Solo (another project in which Maul made an appearance).
The full official new timeline order of the 27 Star Wars movies & television series, featuring six specific eras, can be viewed below:
The High Republic
- Young Jedi Adventures
- The Acolyte
Fall Of The Jedi
- The Phantom Menace
- Tales of the Jedi
- Attack of the Clones
- The Clone Wars
- Revenge of the Sith
Reign Of The Empire
- Tales of the Underworld
- Tales of the Empire
- The Bad Batch
- Maul: Shadow Lord
- Solo: A Star Wars Story
- Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Andor
- Star Wars Rebels
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Age Of Rebellion
- A New Hope
- The Empire Strikes Back
- Return of the Jedi
The New Republic
- The Mandalorian
- The Book of Boba Fett
- Ahsoka
- Skeleton Crew
Rise Of The First Order
- Star Wars Resistance
- The Force Awakens
- The Last Jedi
- The Rise of Skywalker
Although Shadow Lord will be largely focused on Maul and what happened to him after his escape in The Clone Wars, since the project will be set in the Reign of the Empire era, it will also likely include updates on the Empire's status.
For instance, as seen in the upcoming show's trailers, multiple inquisitors will be featured in the series, and it was mentioned that Emperor Palpatine wants Maul dead. So, it is clear that the Empire will still have a heavy presence in Shadow Lord, and seeing other popular characters tied to the Empire (such as Darth Vader or Palpatine) is not out of the question.
Every Star Wars Era & Project Maul Has Been In
The Phantom Menace - Fall of the Jedi
Maul's first appearance in the Star Wars universe came in 1999's The Phantom Menace, the first installment in George Lucas' prequel trilogy. Fans learned that Maul was just a puppet for Darth Sidious (Palpatine) in that movie, but in terms of screen time, he was the primary antagonist, as he was the main villain directly opposing the Jedi and the Republic.
The Phantom Menace takes place in the Fall of the Jedi era and actually kicked off that particular section of the Star Wars timeline. Maul was known as the first publicly seen Sith in hundreds of years and even defeated a Jedi Master (Qui-Gon Jinn) in lightsaber combat. However, he was defeated by Obi-Wan Kenobi on Naboo, but that was obviously not the end of his story.
Tales of the Jedi - Fall of the Jedi
Maul did not physically make an appearance in Tales of the Jedi, but one of the show's episodes overlapped with the events of The Phantom Menace. Maul's actions help kickstart the events that would be showcased in that Tales of the Jedi episode.
Particularly, in the episode "The Sith Lord," it was mentioned that Qui-Gon Jinn had been defeated by a Sith Lord (who fans know was Maul) and that Qui-Gon's funeral was about to take place.
Later in the episode, instead of attending the funeral, Count Dooku traveled to Darth Sidious' secret hideout on Coruscant to confront the Sith Lord about Qui-Gon's death. It is important to remember that Qui-Gon was Dooku's apprentice and that Dooku cared greatly for him, so Dooku was upset with Sidious once he learned that Qui-Gon had been killed.
In that episode, Maul's name was mentioned by Dooku when talking with Sidious. It was confirmed that Maul's killing of Dooku helped push Dooku over the edge and gave in to his anger, which cemented his fall to the dark side.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Fall of the Jedi
The Clone Wars is another project in the Fall of the Jedi era, and anyone who has watched the animated series knows just how important Maul was in its overall story. That show brought him back to the Star Wars universe in Season 4, confirming that his anger allowed him to survive his defeat at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi.
After his return, Maul served as one of the main antagonists of Seasons 5 and 7 when he infiltrated Mandalore and took over the planet. Maul's confrontation with Ahsoka Tano on Mandalore is widely regarded as one of the best plotlines of the entire Star Wars universe, as it was the main focus of the final arc of the series.
The Clone Wars also showcased how Maul survived Order 66 and went into hiding, which was the last time, chronologically, that fans saw him until he popped back up in Solo, and then again (this time more prominently) in Star Wars Rebels.
One of Shadow Lord's sole purposes is to bridge the gap between The Clone Wars, Solo, and Rebels, as there is a lot of missing information about Maul across those projects.
Solo: A Star Wars Story - Reign of the Empire
Before Maul - Shadow Lord's existence, the first time Maul showed up in the Reign of the Empire era was in Solo: A Star Wars Story. he only appeared on-screen for a few minutes at the end of the film, but it revealed that he was the mastermind behind the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate and indicated he had been pulling the strings the entire film.
After Solo, Maul only showed up in Rebels, and he had nothing to do with Crimson Dawn in that series. Many fans are hoping that Shadow Lord will set up his involvement with Crimson Dawn and lay the groundwork for how he got from there to Malachor in Rebels.
Star Wars Rebels - Reign of the Empire
Star Wars Rebels was the first time that fans understood that Maul was the bad penny of the Star Wars saga. No matter how many projects he had been in before, he just kept popping up at what seemed like the most random times.
Maul's first appearance in Rebels came in the two-part Season 2 finale titled "Twilight of the Apprentice." When Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger ventured to Malachor (an ancient Sith planet), they were met by none other than Maul. A lot of events transpired on Malachor, but it set up Maul as a recurring character for the near future.
Maul also played a major role in Rebels Season 3 and even tried to be Ezra's master, but it was revealed that his main motivation was finding Obi-Wan Kenobi. Eventually, he was successful and located Obi-Wan on Tatooine. After seeking him out, the pair met for one final duel, which ended with Obi-Wan striking Maul down permanently (at least, we think it was permanent).
It is worth noting that George Lucas originally planned to bring Maul back in his own sequel trilogy and have him serve as the main antagonist alongside a Star Wars Legends character named Darth Talon. There have been no indications or rumors that Maul will come back in any of the post-sequel era projects that are currently in development, but there will be a mysterious, Force-sensitive Twi'lek in Maul - Shadow Lord, and many believe that she will become Darth Talon.
