Keeping track of Star Wars timelines can feel like doing homework, but it genuinely helps the movies and shows make more sense. Case in point: Darth Maul. For a character who was cut in half and tossed down a bottomless shaft, he sure has a busy calendar. If you want to know exactly how old Maul is every time he pops up on screen, and where the new animated series Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord lands, here is the clean, no-fuss breakdown.
Quick refresher on the clock Star Wars uses
Everything here uses the BBY/ABY system, which centers on the Battle of Yavin (the Death Star trench run in A New Hope). BBY means Before the Battle of Yavin; ABY means After.
Why Maul keeps showing up
Maul started as a one-and-done prequel villain, introduced in The Phantom Menace and killed off at the end of it. Then The Clone Wars brought him back, and Lucasfilm Animation went all-in on turning him into a tragic, obsessive survivor driven by revenge. That character work has kept him relevant across multiple eras and formats, leading up to his newest outing in Shadow Lord.
Maul's age by appearance
- Born in 54 BBY: Maul's birth year comes from a 2015 issue of the magazine Star Wars Jedi Master.
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (32 BBY): 22 years old. First big entrance, first big exit.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars, S4 'Brothers ' (20 BBY): 34. Surprise, he lived, and he is not okay.
- Star Wars: The Clone Wars, S5 'Revival' and the rest (19 BBY): 35. All subsequent Clone Wars episodes for Maul land in this same year.
- Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord, 'Chapter 1: The Dark Revenge' (circa 17–16 BBY): About 37–38. This is an estimate based on Lucasfilm's placement note below.
- Solo: A Star Wars Story (10 BBY): 44. The film 's main events are in 10 BBY; the prologue on Corellia is earlier, in 13 BBY.
- Star Wars Rebels, 'Twilight of the Apprentice' (3 BBY): 51. Maul crosses paths with Ezra Bridger for the first time.
- Star Wars Rebels, Season 3 (2 BBY): 52. Maul's final chapter plays out, ending with Obi-Wan Kenobi in 'Twin Suns.'
Where Shadow Lord fits (and why it is a little fuzzy)
Shadow Lord is the newest Maul story on screen, but it actually takes place not long after The Clone Wars ends. Lucasfilm has not stamped a precise year on it yet. The official site says the first season begins:
'a few short years after Order 66'
Order 66 happens in 19 BBY during Revenge of the Sith. If we take 'a few short years' literally, Shadow Lord likely kicks off around 17 BBY, maybe 16 BBY at the latest. That puts Maul in his late 30s, still rebuilding, scheming, and very much in his crime- boss origin phase.
Also worth flagging: Shadow Lord has already been renewed for a second season. Would not be shocking if they time-jump a bit, especially since the show seems to be setting up his eventual control of the Crimson Dawn syndicate.
The big picture
If you zoom out, Maul grows from a 22-year-old Sith attack dog to a 50-something survivor defined by stubborn purpose. The animated series are where the character truly got his layers; Solo and Rebels just cash the checks Clone Wars wrote. And Shadow Lord is filling in a juicy gap: the early, messy steps between vengeance-fueled chaos and organized criminal power.