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{:title=>"Characters + Histories", :url=>"https://www.starwars.com/news/category/characters-+-histories"} {:title=>"Series", :url=>"https://www.starwars.com/news/category/series"}

From Spider Legs to Nightsister Magick: The Many Mechanical Limbs of Maul

March 11, 2026
March 11, 2026
Paige Lyman

Not even a seemingly deadly clash with the Jedi can keep Maul down.

The galaxy can be a dangerous place, with lightsaber duels, blaster shots, and dangerous creatures all too commonplace. Loss of limb is a high risk for any galactic citizen (just consider how many characters have lost a hand — including Luke Skywalker!)

And for Maul? A life of crime has led him to build and rebuild his cybernetic prosthetics on more than one occasion. With his commanding return in the upcoming animated series Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, premiering on Disney+ with two episodes April 6, 2026, let’s take a closer look at how the former Sith Lord got here, one step at a time.

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    • Maybe He’s Born with It

    In Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, we first met Maul during his apprentice days. Known as Darth Maul at this time, he served under Darth Sidious (the secret alter ego of Sheev Palpatine) as a deadly, highly trained Sith warrior. Sent to assassinate Queen Amidala, Maul’s assignment led him to Naboo where he came to blows with the Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

    Maul succeeded in striking Qui-Gon down thanks to his impressive agility. But while he put up a worthy fight against an enraged Obi-Wan, Maul was ultimately bested by the apprentice when he was cut in two and left to tumble down a trash chute.

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  • Concept art of Maul by Tara Rueping.

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  • Concept art of Maul's mechanical spider legs by Tara Rueping.

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    • Salvaged Spider Legs

    Long believed to be dead following his bisection on Naboo, Maul managed to survive his life-threatening injury by harnessing the dark side and focusing on his hatred towards Obi-Wan. In the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Brothers,” Darth Maul’s brother, Savage Opress, discovered Maul on Lotho Minor some 10 years after that fatal confrontation.

    Since finding refuge on the trash planet, Maul had gone mad, bouncing between nonsensical raving and demented laughter. Maul’s first set of prosthetics were eerily reminiscent of giant spider legs and very roughly constructed. Mainly composed from scavenged materials pulled from the refuse around him, these many mechanical limbs reflected how frenzied Maul’s life and mind had become. However, they were functional, and so iconic even Darth Jar Jar paid homage to the spider legs in LEGO Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy - Pieces of the Past.

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  • Concept art of Maul's dark magick claw legs by Dave Filoni.

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  • Concept art of Maul's dark magick claw legs by Kilian Plunkett.

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    • Dark Magick Claw Legs

    Thanks to Savage, the brothers returned to their homeworld of Dathomir in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Revenge.” A ranting and raving Maul was rescued by the Nightsisters, the mysterious coven of witches who wield dark magicks. The Nightsister matriarch, Mother Talzin, lured Maul onto a stone altar, taking him apart piece by piece to rebuild the son of Dathomir mentally, physically, and spiritually.

    His spider legs were replaced with two new, reforged legs made of magick and nearby recycled droid components — a truly wild combination. Originating in the 2005 graphic novel anthology, Star Wars: Visionaries, by concept artist Aaron McBride, they notably featured claw-like grips at the bottom.

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  • Concept art of Maul's Mandalorian-issue humanoid legs by Kilian Plunkett.

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    • Mandalorian-Issue Humanoid Legs

    Maul rounds out his sizable cybernetic prosthetic list at three pairs. He received his last set of legs in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode “Eminence.” Following a disastrous encounter involving pirates and Jedi on Florrum, Darth Maul and Savage Opress got away in an escape pod, but Maul’s legs were damaged in the melee. They wound up floating through deep space, unconscious and near death. Luckily for Maul and not-so-luckily for the future of Mandalore, he was rescued by Death Watch, the Mandalorian splinter cell led by Pre Vizsla.

    Pre Vizsla brought Maul and his brother back to a Death Watch camp where they were given medical attention and, you guessed it, Maul acquired a brand-new pair of legs. Maul awakened with Mandalorian-grade humanoid prosthetics. And as far as we can tell, this pair has carried him well past the end of the Clone Wars, into the early years of the Empire where Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord begins.

    How far will Maul’s quest for revenge (and those shiny Mandalorian legs) take him? Find out when Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord premieres on Disney+ April 6, 2026.

    Star Wars: Maul - Shadow Lord

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