Disney has shared the first trailer for the anticipated and upcoming Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord, an animated series that sees the iconic Sith Lord take centre-stage and become the protagonist in a narrative that seems to be very violent and action-packed.
The premise seems to revolve around Maul simply being a thorn in the Empire's side, constantly looking to cause havoc and disrupt the Emperor's plans, in a bid to strike back against his former master that left him to die after his duel with Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The series has a tagline of "Chains can be broken. Empires can be shattered," which emphasises the point.
As for when Maul - Shadow Lord will premiere, it's set to land on Disney+ on April 6, with a two-episode premiere to kick things off. While there will be a larger official trailer closer to the show's arrival, you can see the thrilling teaser trailer below.
Update: About the animation technique used for Maul - Shadow Lord, an evolution from The Clone
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Along with the announcement, additional details have been released about the animation finish used in the Darth Maul series. Although the basic style is clearly based on Dave Filoni's The Clone Wars (and from there, the series The Bad Batch and Tales of the Jedi/Empire/Underworld), there are noticeable tweaks and new techniques that mark a new evolution in the brand's signature style, something that fans are already celebrating. Above all, there is a kind of brushstroke effect that imitates hand-painted art. Joel Aron reprises his role after The Bad Batch:
"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," says Executive Producer and Vice President of Lucasfilm Animation Athena Portillo at the official Star Wars site. "He even went back to establishing matte paintings on canvas. 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."
