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(SeaPRwire) –   Star Wars veteran Sam Witwer may maintain that his new series, Maul – Shadow Lord, stands alone, but given it’s a sequel to a midquel derived from a prequel, that assertion is hard to accept. Although the animated show works to frame this unexplored period of Maul’s life, viewers might still wonder, “Wait, how is Darth Maul still alive? And why is he lurking in a sewer with a group of Mandalorians?”

The full context of Shadow Lord largely depends on having watched The Clone Wars, the seven-season series that built its own animated realm, largely separate from the live-action Star Wars universe. That show details how Maul survived Obi-Wan Kenobi’s fatal blow in The Phantom Menace, as well as the vengeance scheme he carries out years later. Most importantly, The Clone Wars also laid a definitive foundation for Mandalorian mythology. It enabled the deep cultural dive seen in The Mandalorian, which moves far beyond the clan’s warrior roots to present the radical Children of the Watch, who refuse to remove their helmets. The live-action series has yet to fully explain the Mandalorians’ severe fragmentation after The Clone Wars, but Shadow Lord may provide the crucial missing part of this persistently convoluted story.

Shadow Lord begins soon after Order 66, also known as the Jedi Purge, tracking Maul’s quest to obliterate the Empire. His last appearance in The Clone Wars showed him assembling a criminal empire on Mandalore for this purpose—but understanding how he enlisted Mandalorians such as Rook Kast requires looking further back in the animated series.

Mandalore has long been part of Star Wars lore, but it entered the current canon in 2010 via a The Clone Wars episode titled “The Mandalore Plot.” It depicted the planet in turmoil, with its pacifist ruler, Duchess Satine Kryze, striving to transform Mandalorian society and end its violent customs. Needless to say, her efforts fail, partly due to corruption from a Mandalorian warrior splinter group called “Death Watch,” and later by Maul’s own interference. After Death Watch allies with Maul’s “Shadow Collective,” their primary mission is to overthrow Satine and crown Maul as Mandalore’s new ruler. (This is all integral to a longstanding revenge plot against Obi-Wan, who was once in love with Satine.)

Maul’s rule is intense but brief. A crushing duel with his former master, Darth Sidious, and a monumental clash with the Republic’s Clone troops rob Maul of all the influence he built over seasons. Although briefly apprehended by the Nite Owls (a Mandalorian faction commanded by Satine’s sister, Bo-Katan), he escapes into hiding with a handful of surviving Death Watch members, including Rook Kast. Shadow Lord starts almost immediately after this defeat in The Clone Wars, showing the shattered remains of Maul’s collective trying to recover following the Siege of Mandalore. The Mandalorian fans know this warrior culture will be pushed to the galaxy’s fringe during the Empire’s reign, but Shadow Lord might illustrate the formation of a new Mandalorian sect—Din Djarin’s Children of the Watch.

Could some of Maul’s Mandalorian mercenaries have been the first to declare, “This is the Way?” Based on Witwer’s insistence on the series’ independence, perhaps not. Still, Shadow Lord has the potential to clarify the Mandalorians’ lengthy, tangled past, portraying the next phase of their decline and setting the stage for their struggle to regain former honor.

Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord streams Mondays on Disney+.