Star Wars' Maul - Shadow Lord: The Acolyte Fans Always Wanted

Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Maul - Shadow Lord season 1, episode 8.It's been two years since The Acolyte premiered, and Star Wars is finally giving fans the show that Disney and Lucasfilm promised it would be. When it was first announced, The Acolyte was marketed as a show that focused on the Sith and the dark side of the Force. The name The Acolyte itself is a reference to the Sith Rule of Two, the practice of Sith masters taking on a single apprentice as explained by Yoda's famous line, "Always two there are, no more, no less. A master and an apprentice."

Fans were - rightfully so - expecting The Acolyte to mainly center around the Sith in the High Republic era of the Star Wars timeline, when they were still hiding away and consolidating power, unbeknownst to the Jedi. Instead, The Acolyte turned out to be much more focused on Mae and Osha Aniseya and Jedi Master Sol. The entire series revolved around the mystery of Brendok, their Force birth, and the Jedi's involvement in it all.

In fact, the only real dark side user in The Acolyte was Manny Jacinto's Stranger, and he may not have even been a Sith. Even if he was a Sith apprentice to Darth Plagueis, the Stranger was shrouded in mystery the entire time, and he was a supporting character in Mae and Osha's stories, certainly not the focus of a Sith-centric series. Star Wars promised that The Acolyte would be about the Sith, and they were barely even featured.

That disconnect between what The Acolyte was marketed as and what it ended up being was certainly a contributing factor in the show's divisiveness. Luckily, Star Wars is finally ready to make good on its promise of a show centered around the Sith and the dark side. That show is called Maul - Shadow Lord, and it's already most of the way through its first season.

Maul - Shadow Lord Is What The Acolyte Should Have Been

Maul - Shadow Lord is, in many ways, the show that Star Wars promised The Acolyte would be. The series centers around Maul, and while he's no longer technically a Sith, he's definitely still a villain and dark side Force wielder. Shadow Lord episode 8 also deals heavily with Maul's time as an apprentice to Darth Sidious through flashbacks, which gives viewers more insight into the inner workings of the Sith than The Acolyte ever did.

In just eight episodes, Maul - Shadow Lord has explored the philosophy of the Sith and the dark side, Maul's attempts to sway Jedi padawan Devon Izara, and the torture and abuse Sidious subjected his apprentice to. Shadow Lord is an examination of the hatred, pain, and thirst for revenge that dark side users are driven and ultimately consumed by. Most importantly, Maul - Shadow Lord is undisputably the dark and villain-focused show that Star Wars fans have wanted to see for years.

Maul - Shadow Lord is exactly the series The Acolyte originally promised to be. The Acolyte should have, based on its original premise and marketing, been told from the Stranger's point of view. It should have given more insight into the Sith's plans, Darth Plagueis as a character, and the details and dynamics of the Sith master and apprentice relationship and the cost of using the dark side. Maul - Shadow Lord is doing all that and more.

Maul - Shadow Lord Is Already Helping To Heal The Division From The Acolyte

Maul - Shadow Lord isn't just fulfilling Star Wars' promise for The Acolyte two years after the fact, however, it's also helping to undo some of the damage the earlier show caused. As previously mentioned, The Acolyte was wildly divisive. Some fans had legitimate criticisms of the show's pacing, its central mystery, and its inability to fulfill the promise of a show based on the Sith. Other fans enjoyed the show for its moral depth and complexity, great acting, and exciting fights. That range of reactions caused a firestorm online, and it divided the Star Wars fan base.

Maul - Shadow Lord, however, isn't anywhere near as divisive as The Acolyte was. In fact, Shadow Lord may be the most universally beloved Star Wars show since Andor or the first two seasons of The Mandalorian. Even viewers who complained about The Acolyte being "woke" for its diverse cast have mostly remained silent about Maul so far. Just compare the shows' Rotten Tomatoes scores: The Acolyte had 19% audience approval (due partially to review bombing efforts), while Maul - Shadow Lord has 90% approval.

The near universal acclaim for Maul - Shadow Lord is a win in and of itself, but it could prove to be much more than that as well. Maul - Shadow Lord could become a new piece of common ground for Star Wars fans who were divided by The Acolyte and The Last Jedi before it to come together on. If Disney and Lucasfilm learn from this and starts catering to viewers with both legitimate criticisms and legitimate praise of The Acolyte, Maul - Shadow Lord could become the blueprint for a much more united era of Star Wars.