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How Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord Borrowed From Andor's Success

By Sofia Martinez · Culture & Entertainment Editor

May 7, 2026 · 12 min read

Julio Bardini

Published May 7, 2026, 7:52 PM EDT

Julio is a Senior Author for Collider. He studied History and International Relations at university, but found his calling in cultural journalism. When he isn't writing, Julio also teaches English at a nearby school. He has lived in São Paulo most of his life, where he covers CCXP and other big events. Having loved movies, music, and TV from an early age, he prides himself in knowing every minute detail about the things he loves. When he is older, he dreams of owning a movie theater in a small countryside town.

Before Star Wars: Maul — Shadow Lord_ became a near-perfect streaming sensation with 98% on Rotten Tomatoes and wrapped its first season this May the Fourth, there was another recent Star Wars series proving the franchise could still feel fresh, focused, and full of heart. As a miracle within the franchise, Star Wars: Skeleton Crew consolidated itself as one of the best, thanks to something truly unique: a kids' show with a big heart. Ironically, it was able to achieve this by following a recipe set by another, much darker hit Star Wars series, Andor. As diametrically distant as they may seem, these two series have more in common than you'd expect.

‘Skeleton Crew’ Doesn’t Depend on the Larger Star Wars Canon

Andor has obvious ties to the larger galaxy since it's a prequel series to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, but one of its greatest merits is actually getting as far away from it as possible. Season 2 obviously has to strengthen these ties, but it doesn't look like it will be "Rogue One 2.0." just Andor Season 2. Deep down, Andor is not about the war itself, but rather about radicalization and the rise of fascism on a large scale, so there is no point in tying everything to pre-existing lore.

COLLIDER Collider · Quiz

Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero_ Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky

Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.

🏜️Paul Atreides 🖖Capt. Kirk ✊Princess Leia 🔦Ellen Ripley 🔥Max Rockatansky

FIND YOUR HERO →

QUESTION 1 / 8LEADERSHIP

01 How do you lead when the stakes couldn't be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.

AI absorb everything — every variable, every pattern — and move only when I know the path forward. BI read the room, make the call, and own the consequences. Hesitation costs more than mistakes. CI rally people. A cause needs a voice, and I refuse to let fear be louder than conviction. DI assess the threat, establish what needs doing, and get it done without waiting for permission. EI don't lead. I act. Others can follow or not — I'm already moving.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 2 / 8STRENGTH

02 What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.

APrescience — the ability to see further ahead than anyone else and plan accordingly. BImprovisation — I'm at my best when the plan falls apart and I have to invent a new one. CConviction — I know what I'm fighting for, and that certainty doesn't waver under fire. DComposure — I stay functional when everyone around me is falling apart. Panic is a luxury. EEndurance — I outlast things. I take the hit and keep moving long after others have stopped.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 3 / 8MOTIVATION

03 What is the thing you'd sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.

AThe survival and dignity of my people — even if I have to become something frightening to ensure it. BThe safety of my crew — every single one of them. No one gets left behind. CFreedom — for my people, for every world still crushed under the weight of an empire. DThe truth — what actually happened, what's actually out there, whether anyone believes me or not. EThe one person — or the one memory — that still makes any of this worth surviving for.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 4 / 8PEOPLE

04 How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.

AWith intensity and distance — I care deeply, but the weight I carry makes closeness complicated. BWith warmth and irreverence — I take the mission seriously, not myself. CWith directness and trust — I say what I mean, and I expect the people I work with to rise to it. DWith professional care but clear limits — I'll protect you, but I won't pretend we're family. EWith wariness that slowly becomes loyalty — I don't trust easily, but when I do, it holds.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 5 / 8THREAT

05 You're facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you're the only one who sees it defines everything.

APrepare in silence. If they won't listen, I'll be ready when they finally have to. BKeep pushing until someone listens — and if no one does, handle it myself. CBuild the case, find the allies, and make the threat impossible to ignore. DDocument everything. The truth matters even if no one believes it yet. EStop trying to convince anyone. Survive it. That's the only argument that counts.

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QUESTION 6 / 8COST

06 What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they'd pay it again.

AMy innocence — I've seen what I'm capable of, and I can't unsee it. BPeople I loved — the command chair has a view, but it's a lonely one. CA normal life — I gave up everything ordinary the moment I chose the cause. DMy sense of safety — I know exactly what's out there now, and I can't pretend otherwise. EAlmost everything — and I'm still not sure what I'm carrying it all for. But I keep going.

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QUESTION 7 / 8RULES

07 How do you feel about the rules of the world you're in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What's yours?

AI understand them deeply — and I know exactly which ones must be broken, and why. BI respect the spirit of them and bend the letter when the situation demands it. CThe system is the problem. I'm not here to work within it — I'm here to dismantle it. DI follow protocol until protocol stops being useful. Then I make the call myself. EThe rules collapsed a long time ago. What's left is instinct, and mine are reliable.

NEXT QUESTION →

QUESTION 8 / 8PURPOSE

08 When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.

ADestiny — or something that feels so much like it that the difference no longer matters. BThe people on my ship — their faces, their trust, the fact that they're counting on me. CThe belief that what we're fighting for is worth every sacrifice, including this one. DSheer refusal to let it win — whatever it is. I don't stop. That's just who I am. EI'm not sure anymore. But the road is still there, and I'm still on it.

REVEAL MY HERO →

Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is… Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.

Arrakis · Dune

Paul Atreides You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you're capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.

You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn't ask for but can't escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won't, is exactly you.

USS Enterprise · Star Trek

Captain Kirk You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you've always believed there's a third option nobody else has thought of yet.

You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you've earned it.
Kirk's genius isn't tactical — it's human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.

That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.

The Rebellion · Star Wars

Princess Leia You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you're fearless, but because giving up simply isn't something you're capable of.

You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you've never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.

The Nostromo · Alien

Ellen Ripley You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone's hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.

You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley's heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn't have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn't there.
When it counts, you don't flinch. That's everything.

The Wasteland · Mad Max

Max Rockatansky You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.

You don't ask for help, don't need validation, and don't wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it's earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.

↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ

Skeleton Crew works within the same framework, minus political critique, of course. It references next to nothing in the larger franchise canon, even though everything that happens in the galaxy is interconnected. New Republic patrols are after the kids, pirates run amok in the Outer Rim, and possibly even former Jedi are involved, but none of that matters because the series is not about that. By separating itself from the larger galaxy, Skeleton Crew gave itself the freedom to be a children's fable, something unique in Star Wars. Jod Na Nawood (Jude Law), for example, doesn't need to be a Jedi or have a complex backstory; he works perfectly the way he is.

Neither Andor nor Skeleton Crew, depending on previously established lore, doesn't mean they are disconnected from Star Wars, of course,** **just that they can be watched by themselves, instead of requiring previous viewing of another movie or series. Both work best doing their own thing and are better off being more concerned about telling their own stories instead of being another piece of a larger puzzle. You don't have to know much about Star Wars to watch either property.

‘Skeleton Crew’ Isn’t Afraid To Dip Its Toes in the Darker Aspects of Star Wars

Skeleton Crew may be a children's show with the makings of a space fable, a typical cautionary tale about finding that the world is bigger (and more dangerous) than we thought. But not depending on the larger canon means it can also adapt its tone, from a genre perspective. Most of this is again seen by Jod's jarring descent into villainy, going from giving Jedi lessons to Wim (Ravi Cabot-Conyers) to holding a knife to Fern (Ryan Kiera Armstrong) in Episode 5, for example.

Jod is a great character, really, one that perhaps would not have been possible to exist if Skeleton Crew had to comply with typical Star Wars standards. Star Wars is no stranger to telling children's stories, and, even though there is plenty of violence, they're still toned down, focusing on the drama rather than the actions — apprentices turning on masters, freedom fighters, etc. But in Episode 7, Jod shoots Brutus (Fred Tatasciore) in cold blood, lashes out at the kids, and even threatens their parents. It's pretty dark, perhaps only Anakin Skywalker's (Hayden Christensen) scenes with the Tuskens in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones and the Jedi younglings in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith compare.

Every Star Wars Show, Ranked

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By Diego Pineda Pacheco

Andor _was the first Star Wars series that gave itself the freedom to be gritty and dark without having to carry an underlying lesson for a PG-13 audience. It's a series known for its great dialogue, but most of it would not have been possible if it had to fit within Star Wars audience standards (which can be said for Rogue One). The same goes for Skeleton Crew's use of violence and adult themes.

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It's a complex fable, and it benefits from being able to openly show Jod's deceitful and vicious behavior, without risking being too childish — kids can grasp complex characters too. Star Wars needs more series that can see lore as a framework instead of constraints**, and both Andor_ and Skeleton Crew are great examples of how to do it.

Star Wars: Skeleton Crew is available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.

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Star Wars: Skeleton Crew

Cast

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Jude Law

Jod Na Nawood

Ravi Cabot-Conyers

Wim

Where to watch _

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WHERE TO WATCH

Streaming**

Four kids make a mysterious discovery on their home planet that leads them to get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy.