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(SeaPRwire) –   Maul: Shadow Lord is set at a fascinating juncture in the Star Wars timeline, falling in the few years between Order 66 and the official launch of the Rebellion. Just like the ascent of most fascist governments, the new Empire at first looks like the start of a new era, but that positive impression quickly fades. This is a compelling turning point for the franchise, and it also sits fairly early on in official Star Wars canon. The only major content that takes place before this time frame is the prequel trilogy, the events of The Acolyte, and the High Republic saga — that’s basically all we have right now.

This small detail makes one line of dialogue in the series far more confusing — and it could potentially reveal an entire unexamined chapter of Star Wars canon that we haven’t seen yet.

In Episode 5 of Star Wars: Maul —Shadow Lord, Jedi Master Eeko-Dio Daki meditates on the Empire’s slow, steady takeover of the galaxy. “Worry not,” he says. “Over the course of my long life, I have watched the galaxy endure many changes. Tyranny is always defeated. We have to hold onto hope.”

This line doesn’t feel out of place for Star Wars — after all, hope is the most iconic, central theme across the entire saga. But when Daki says he watched the galaxy go through many changes, what exactly is he referencing? The first question we need to answer is how old he actually is. His species, Mosyk, has never appeared in Star Wars before, but we can get clues about the species’ typical lifespan from a behind-the-scenes meta detail. In a trivia post on StarWars.com, the show’s crew revealed they nicknamed Eeko-Dio Daki “Dino Jedi.” If he is the Star Wars equivalent of a dinosaur and still alive, it’s safe to assume his lifespan is measured in centuries.

With that centuries-long lifespan in mind, what big changes could he have witnessed before Order 66 and the Empire’s rise? There is almost no matching content within current official canon. Right now, the earliest story we’ve explored in the official Star Wars timeline is The High Republic: Convergence, which takes place 382 years before the events of A New Hope. In the grand scope of galactic history, that is not very long at all — Yoda was still very much middle-aged when that story unfolded.

And even across the entire The High Republic line of books and comics, full-scale galactic tyranny is not a pressing threat. While there are plenty of frightening villains in this era, they are more similar to pirates and raiders than large powers seeking to rule the entire galaxy. The High Republic is the period when the Jedi were at the peak of their power, and that golden reign lasted straight up until the Empire rose to power.

So if Daki isn’t referring to any event that happened after the start of the High Republic, what could he mean? Is this our first clue that the Star Wars universe will expand into its own ancient history? We already know that James Mangold’s upcoming film will cover the very origins of the Jedi Order itself — perhaps that project will act as a prelude to one of the epic wars from the old Legends continuity, like the brutal fight between the Jedi and Sith for control of the entire galaxy.

It’s easy to forget that by the start of the prequel trilogy, the Republic had already existed in an era of (relative) peace for centuries. If tyranny has repeatedly changed the galaxy and then been defeated, those events clearly happened long before any story Star Wars has told so far. But as always, galactic history holds far more secrets than you could ever imagine.

Maul: Shadow Lord is available to stream now on Disney+.