When does Maul – Shadow Lord take place on the Star Wars timeline?

When does Maul – Shadow Lord take place in the Star Wars timeline? It's a fair question, since Maul gets up to a lot in the galaxy far, far away, which can make tracking his adventures a little difficult.

That's where we come in. Below, we've broken down exactly when Maul – Shadow Lord takes place on the Star Wars timeline, as well as what that means for the show. Our guide is spoiler-free, so you can dive in whether you've started watching the show or not.

So, for everything you need to know, head below, or to get caught up on Maul's story, head over to our guide on what to watch before Maul – Shadow Lord.

When does Maul – Shadow Lord take place on the Star Wars timeline?

Maul – Shadow Lord is set in 18 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin, AKA the first Death Star going kaboom), which is one year after Revenge of the Sith and one year after the end of the Clone Wars. Check out its place on the timeline below.

• Star Wars: The Phantom Menace – 32 BBY
• Star Wars: Attack of the Clones – 22 BBY
• The Clone Wars – 22 BBY – 19 BBY
• Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith – 19 BBY
• The Bad Batch – 19 BBY
• Maul – Shadow Lord – 18 BBY
• Solo: A Star Wars Story – 13 BBY – 10 BBY
• Obi-Wan Kenobi – 10 BBY
• Andor – 5 BBY
• Star Wars Rebels – 5 BBY – 1 BBY
• Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – 0 BBY
• A New Hope – 0 BBY
• The Empire Strikes Back – 3 ABY
• Return of the Jedi – 4 ABY
• The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 – 9 ABY
• The Book of Boba Fett – 9 ABY
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens – 34 ABY
• Star Wars: The Last Jedi – 34 ABY
• Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – 35 ABY

Maul – Shadow Lord timeline: what does that mean for the show?

Maul ends the Clone Wars losing his grip on Mandalore during the Siege of Mandalore in a duel with Ahsoka Tano. The ex-Sith Lord had hoped to lure Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi to Mandalore because he had foreseen Anakin's fall to the dark side and recruitment as Darth Sidious's apprentice. But, Ahsoka arrives instead, foiling Maul's plan to prevent Sidious's ascension as Emperor.

After he loses the duel, Maul is taken prisoner by Ahsoka, but when Order 66 kicks in, he is freed and set loose against the clones. He then escapes from there. Shadow Lord picks up shortly afterwards, with Maul hoping to rebuild his criminal empire – and seek vengeance on those in the Shadow Collective who abandoned him after the Siege, as well as recruit Devon Izara as his apprentice.

Interestingly, though, we know what happens to Maul after Shadow Lord because he's shown up in two other Star Wars projects. In a surprise cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Maul is revealed to be the leader of the Crimson Dawn crime syndicate. And, much later in Star Wars Rebels, Maul lurks alone near a Sith temple and wants to make Ezra Bridger his apprentice. So, Shadow Lord looks set to fill in a lot of gaps.

"I will say, when we approach these kinds of stories where you know a certain character's end, it's not necessarily a straight line," Shadow Lord supervising director Brad Rau told us recently. "So, we wanted to make sure that we are making surprising bobs and weaves in a storyline that the fans are not expecting. Ideally, that's what we're doing. Also, there's a lot of new characters you've never seen before, and you don't know their fates and their destiny, and that's a big part of the story as well."

We'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out, then, but we do have an idea of where Maul's story might be going…

For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows, or how to watch The Clone Wars in order.