Maul series tops Disney+
The new Star Wars animated series Maul: Shadow Lord climbed to No. 1 on Disney+’s global Top 10 in just three days, signaling strong audience demand for franchise extensions (movieweb.com). Companion coverage also notes that Andor season 2 release dates were recently published alongside Maul’s rollout, though the brief source did not list specific Andor dates (glassalmanac.com).
Maul: Shadow Lord reached No. 1 on Disney+’s worldwide Top 10 within three days of its April 6 debut, giving Lucasfilm a fast streaming win. (movieweb.com) Disney+ released the series with a two-episode premiere on April 6, 2026, and StarWars.com said the show was created by Dave Filoni and stars Sam Witwer as Maul. (disneyplus.com, starwars.com, starwars.com) FlixPatrol’s April 12 chart listed Maul: Shadow Lord at No. 1 on Disney+ worldwide, and trade and fan-site coverage said it rose past Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again during its first week. (flixpatrol.com, movieweb.com, screenrant.com) The series is set in the early Empire period after The Clone Wars, with Maul trying to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet outside Imperial control. StarWars.com described it as Maul’s first starring role in a Star Wars series. (starwars.com, imdb.com) That timing gives Disney+ a new Star Wars title two weeks before the return of Andor, the live-action Cassian Andor drama. StarWars.com said Andor season 2 premieres April 22, 2025, in four weekly chapters of three episodes each, and the series page now says all episodes are streaming. (starwars.com, starwars.com, starwars.com) The response has been strong beyond the chart position. Rotten Tomatoes listed the first season at 100% with critics as of the latest crawl, while other coverage reported audience scores in the mid-90s after release week. (rottentomatoes.com, radiotimes.com, comingsoon.net) Lucasfilm first announced the show at Star Wars Celebration in April 2025, then used early 2026 to roll out a teaser trailer, poster art, and cast details before the premiere. That gave Disney a year to turn a supporting villain from The Phantom Menace, The Clone Wars, and Rebels into the lead of a new animated run. (ign.com, starwars.com, starwars.com) For Disney+, the immediate result is simple: an animated Star Wars series built around Darth Maul opened on April 6 and was sitting atop the global chart by April 12. The next test is whether it can hold that spot as Andor and the rest of Disney’s April lineup compete for the same subscribers. (disneyplus.com, flixpatrol.com, ign.com)
