Debuting on Disney+ this week is the latest animated foray into the Star Wars universe, Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord. A new slate from star wars czar Dave Filoni, in the same vein as his Clone Wars and Bad Batch series, this story follows the exploits of former Darth Sidious apprentice Darth Maul. This story begins after his apparent death at the hands of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Phantom Menace. Years later, after the events of Revenge of the Sith, we catch up with Maul (voiced by Sam Witwer) on the planet Janix with a crew of devotees as he attempts to reclaim the reins of his criminal empire The Shadow Collective after his presumed death.

We open with Maul staging a war between two factions that both have betrayed him during his time away. The winning side ultimately gets its leader Looti Vario (Chris Diamantopoulos) being captured by Maul. But to obtain Vario, Maul and his second in command Rook Kast (Vanessa Marshall) must infiltrate a police office lockup after Captain Brander Lawson (Wagner Moura) apprehends him. During the breakout Maul discovers another detainee, Devon Izara (Gideon Adlon), and senses a great power of the force inside her.

Devon, a Jedi Padawn to Master Eeko-Dio Daki (Dennis Haysbert), was picked up attempting to shoplift food for her and her master as the pair have been reduced to panhandling due to their station of being fugitives. Maul takes Devon with him, and tries to lure her to the dark side and become his apprentice, as he has a plan for revenge on Sidious and the entire Empire. But Devon knows all too well that the enemy of my enemy doesn’t make someone a friend, especially a mass murderer as notorious as Maul.

Star Wars : Maul – Shadow Lord brings the audience a story they might not even realise they needed in the further exploits of Maul. No longer a Darth, as he swears off all of the teachings of Sidious after his former master betrays him, Maul is now a split between tortured soul and unrepentant crime boss. It’s a fascinating dichotomy that if wasn’t handled properly would have sunk the entire show immediately. But towards the later of the 8 episodes (out of 10) that were provided for this review, we start to delve further into Maul’s past and see how he is literally haunted by aspects of his life.

The show packs in a lot of action, but also something vastly different for the Star Wars universe, a police procedural. Through the episodes we spend equal time with Captain Lawson and his droid partner Two Boots (Richard Ayoade), a stickler for the rules that Lawson always pushes. Lawson’s a single dad to Rylee (Charlie Bushnell), after his wife left to work for the Empire, a key point as to why Lawson distrusts them. This point is a major underlying factor in the story between Lawson and Two Boots as we get a classic partner stand off. Seeing a Janix police station and Star Wars characters dealing more directly with earth inspired issues is a breath of fresh air. And even if most of the police business is derivative of prototypical police procedurals, it’s still well written and a treat to unfold.

By the time the Empire and Inquisitor Marrok (A.J. LoCasico) get involved in the whole matter, the series has fully engrossed its audience and has complete buy-in. The action is on point and the underlying story of Maul’s seduction of Devon plays out subtly underneath all the insanity that is unfolding as both Maul’s crew as well as the Jedis with the Lawson’s scramble to find a way off the planet. It’s very smartly written, which should not surprise many of those that have seen Filoni’s previous series. Having already secured a season two renewal before even airing,  I look forward to watching the final two episodes of Star Wars : Maul – Shadow Lord to find out where they leave the story, and where they might go with another series to come.