Star Wars’ Record-Smashing New Series Is Secretly Tied To Anakin Skywalker
At long last, the Star Wars series fans craved after The Phantom Menace has arrived: Maul – Shadow Lord plunges into the Empire’s darkest days as a resurrected Darth Maul wages a ruthless vendetta against Jedi and Sith—delivering one of the franchise’s boldest TV chapters yet.
Star Wars just dropped a new show that actually makes The Phantom Menace feel richer in hindsight. Maul - Shadow Lord is set in the Empire's early reign, and it gives the resurrected Sith apprentice a vicious, laser-focused revenge tour. And yeah, the show is not just good, it is topping the entire franchise on Rotten Tomatoes with a 100% critic score and a 96% audience score. That is... not normal.
The quick download
- When and where: The Dark Times, on the crime- soaked world of Janix
- Who: Darth Maul hunting payback against both Jedi and Sith, while local cop Captain Brander Lawson tries to keep the peace long enough to keep the Empire from cracking down
- Family wrinkle: Lawson is juggling the job with being a dad to his son, Rylee
- Vibe: The show nods hard to The Phantom Menace - Maul's entrance leans on the Duel of the Fates cue, and his lightsaber design riffs on his TPM look
- Reception: Highest-rated Star Wars series to date on Rotten Tomatoes - 100% from critics, 96% from audiences
The lacrosse stick that tells on Anakin
Rylee spends his off-hours playing botekin, which is basically Star Wars lacrosse. That alone is a fun world-building detail, but the show takes it a step further: Rylee's stick is a deep-cut prop match to something you could spot in the background of Anakin Skywalker's workspace in The Phantom Menace. It is one of those blink-and-you-miss-it connections that actually says something.
"The sticks that are used to play botekin (the Star Wars version of lacrosse) in MAUL - SHADOW LORD first appeared in the background of Anakin's mechanic workplace in THE PHANTOM MENACE."
- Star Wars Holocron, April 14, 2026
What that tiny prop tells us about kid Anakin
We know the broad strokes: Anakin was a slave on Tatooine, obsessed with podracing, and dreamed of winning the Boonta Eve to free himself and his mom. But that cannot have been his whole life. If botekin gear was hanging in his space, he almost certainly played casually with friends. Not in official matches or stadiums - that was not an option for him - but enough to make it part of his day-to-day.
It also tracks with his gifts. Anakin's Force-fueled reflexes gave him an edge against racers like Sebulba and Ben Quadinaros. The same instincts would make him annoying-good at a fast, hand-eye-heavy sport, and they are the kind of fine-motor skills that translate to lightsaber work later. In other words, a throwaway background prop becomes a clean line from kid Anakin's sandlot games to Jedi-level precision.
When an Easter egg actually does some work
Star Wars can get a little heavy-handed with its references. This one feels earned. The botekin stick is not just a wink, it deepens the galaxy and quietly fills in Anakin's early life. Pair it with Shadow Lord's other TPM flourishes - that Duel of the Fates needle drop when Maul strides in, the saber design callbacks - and you can feel the care baked into the show. Those sky-high Rotten Tomatoes scores are not a fluke; the details are clicking.