Shadow Lord is "a whole 'nother level of character depth" for Sam Witwer's Maul "where you get to go into his mental psyche"

Maul might have made his Star Wars debut back in 1999, but the upcoming Maul – Shadow Lord is the first time he's been the main character of his own show.

Sam Witwer, who voices Maul in multiple Star Wars releases, including The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, returns once again as his fearsome ex-Sith. This time, though, the show is diving deeper than ever into the villain's state of mind.

"I re-watched all 13 or 15 episodes of Clone Wars that were the prequel to Maul," Shadow Lord executive producer Athena Yvette Portillo tells GamesRadar+. "And seeing Sam's performance was always strong, but this is a whole 'nother level of character depth for him, where you get to go into his mental psyche."

Witwer both provided that distinctive voice for Maul and took an active role behind the scenes, too. "When we record, and we're all there with the actors, there's a lot of discussion that goes on," explains supervising director Brad Rau. "But we realized really early on, we wanted to talk to Witwer even more than that. We wanted to make sure we're keeping this character authentic, and look for those new, interesting opportunities for him to be at his best in surprising ways, and new ways, and ways that make you excited, keeping him mysterious, but also learning new parts about him.

"So, we talk to Sam all the time, whether that's at a dinner, or we have meetings, or Zoom calls," he continues. "We're constantly talking, and we're all just big nerds together. So, we just have fun hanging out."

"Sam is so much fun to work with. He's an absolute delight. We joke that despite the fact that he portrays a former Sith Lord, he's basically like our resident Jedi Master," adds writer Matt Michnovetz.

Maul – Shadow Lord streams on Disney Plus from April 6. Keep up with our Maul – Shadow Lord release schedule.

In the meantime, see our guide to watching The Clone Wars in order to catch up on Maul's story – or check out the episodes on our what to watch before Maul – Shadow Lord explainer.