Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord premiered on Disney+ on April 6 with a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 38 critical reviews, making it the highest-rated entry in the Star Wars franchise by critics' consensus. [1] The series is still running. The May 4 finale has not aired. The score has held.

The series centers on Darth Maul in the years between The Phantom Menace and The Clone Wars, voiced by Sam Witwer, who originated the role in The Clone Wars revival. [1] It is a character study as much as an action series — the rare Star Wars property willing to ask what a Sith's interior life looks like when his master has discarded him and he has not yet found a new reason to exist. [2]

The franchise's recent record with critics is worth noting. The Acolyte arrived with ambition and collapsed under it. Obi-Wan Kenobi peaked at 82 percent. The Book of Boba Fett landed at 67. The Mandalorian's third season broke the spell of the first two. Meanwhile, every animated entry has outperformed live-action by double digits. Clone Wars, Rebels, and now Maul: Shadow Lord have produced the franchise's critical highs consistently. [2]

On X, the consensus is already forming: animation lets Star Wars be weird in ways that nine-figure live-action productions do not. You can take real character risks when you are not managing 400 crew members and a star's schedule. [1]

The May 4 finale — deliberately, almost defiantly, scheduled for Star Wars Day — will determine whether the 100 percent holds. At this trajectory, the question may be whether it finishes higher than anything.

-- CAMILLE BEAUMONT, Los Angeles