Star Wars has officially taken the title of The Phantom Menace and rewrote its meaning in a full circle way. As the first chronological Star Wars movie, The Phantom Menace is responsible for setting up the saga to come. While the movie positioned its story as a mystery, no true Star Wars fan was fooled into not knowing who the title referred to.
Star Wars’ main Sith Lord, Palpatine himself, was the looming Phantom Menace over the story. As Palpatine pulled the strings of both the Jedi and the Senate, he planted seeds that allowed him to form the Galactic Empire later in the Star Wars timeline. While the audience knew this, the Jedi themselves were none the wiser as to who the Phantom Menace was.
In fact, the Jedi Order believed that Darth Maul, only the Sith apprentice of Palpatine, was the primary threat to the Republic. Of course, they were wrong. However, almost 30 years after The Phantom Menace was released, ***Star Wars: ***Maul - Shadow Lord has officially rewritten the former title and given the Jedi some credence.
Maul - Shadow Lord chronicles the titular former Sith’s attempts at rebuilding his criminal empire after Order 66, officially making him the Phantom Menace of the galaxy at this point in the timeline. During the two-episode premiere, Maul even alludes to being a shadowy presence to his enemies, lending itself to the title of the show and his once-powerful syndicate, the Shadow Collective.
The Empire’s rule has thrust parts of the galaxy into a state of lawlessness and any remaining Jedi are scattered. By making himself a crime lord, taking out his competitors, and rebuilding his reputation from the shadows, Maul has taken the title of the Phantom Menace for himself, years after Palpatine had it.
In this sense, the Jedi have been vindicated for once thinking Maul was the biggest Sith threat to the galaxy. Unfortunately for the Jedi, they were simply too early in this belief. Palpatine is the face of the Empire and the leader of tyranny in the Star Wars galaxy at this point in the timeline, meaning nothing is “phantom” about him. Maul, though, is terrorizing the galaxy once more in his own way, taking the mantle of the first Star Wars movie for himself in a full-circle moment.
To further prove that Maul is now the Phantom Menace over Palpatine, we have Solo: A Star Wars Story. The 2018 movie is set around 10 years beyond Maul - Shadow Lord, with its final scene marking a massive reveal at the time: Maul is in charge of Crimson Dawn. Maul - Shadow* Lord* will undoubtedly explore how he gets to that point, but the end goal proves he is now a master in his own way.
Solo expertly kept Maul hidden throughout the film, with barely any hints or teases that he was the true villain behind Crimson Dawn’s actions. Paul Bettany’s Dryden Voss was positioned as the film’s central villain, with the reveal that Maul is above him only coming right at the end of the story. In this way, Maul was also the Phantom Menace of *Solo, *just like he is in Maul - Shadow Lord.
Thanks to what is known from Solo and what is set up in Maul - Shadow Lord episodes 1 and 2, the character’s future will only solidify his status as a Phantom Menace. Eventually, Maul will climb his way to the top of Crimson Dawn, doing so under the Empire’s nose and without attracting any real attention from surviving Jedi, that we know of.
Maul will use his reputation, loyal followers, and shadowy presence to build this empire from the darkness. Maul - Shadow Lord’s future seasons will depict exactly how, making him all the more of a Phantom Menace at this point in the Star Wars timeline, officially taking the title from his master and bringing his story full circle.
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