Darth Maul’s Solo Series Becomes Disney+’s Top Animated Show of 2026, Despite Fierce Competition

Disney+ has leaned heavily on nostalgia to drive its 2026 programming slate, and few characters carry quite as much built-in fan goodwill as Darth Maul. The horned Sith apprentice has spent over two decades evolving from a one-note “Phantom Menace” villain into one of Star Wars’ most complex animated figures, largely thanks to Dave Filoni’s continued efforts across multiple series.

That evolution reaches its latest chapter with “Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord,” a 10-episode animated series created by Filoni that premiered on Disney+ on April 6, following the former Sith Lord as he attempts to rebuild his criminal syndicate on a planet untouched by the Empire, set roughly a year after the events of “The Clone Wars.”

New streaming data confirms that reinvention has translated into genuine viewership success. According to data tracked by Luminate, “Maul: Shadow Lord” has become the most-streamed animated series on Disney+ of 2026 so far, racking up 1.1 billion total minutes viewed during the first half of the year.

That figure places the series in genuinely elite company across Disney+’s entire original programming slate. Only three shows managed to outperform Maul in total streaming minutes during the same period: “Daredevil: Born Again,” which accumulated 3.6 billion minutes across two seasons, “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” at 2.6 billion minutes, and “Wonder Man,” rounding out the top tier ahead of Filoni’s animated project.

That’s a notable feat considering “Maul: Shadow Lord” was competing directly against live-action franchise heavyweights for viewer attention. Landing above every other new Star Wars content released on the platform in 2026 underscores just how much pull the character still has with audiences, even as Disney+ continues expanding its Marvel and other franchise offerings simultaneously.

Interestingly, the same Luminate data revealed an even bigger streaming story playing out within the Star Wars catalog itself. “The Mandalorian” pulled in a staggering 2.4 billion minutes on Disney+ during the same period, despite having zero new episodes released, driven largely by catch-up viewing ahead of the theatrical release of “The Mandalorian and Grogu” in May.

That catalog dominance highlights a broader trend within Disney+’s Star Wars library, where older, established series continue outperforming newer content on a season-by-season basis. According to the same report, “The Mandalorian” held three of the top ten spots on Luminate’s Disney+ originals chart for the half, with its individual seasons, some as old as seven years, each out-streaming every new Star Wars episode released in 2026 with the sole exception of “Maul.”

Other Star Wars catalog titles trailed further behind on the same list, with “Andor” posting 918 million minutes a year removed from its final season, followed by “The Book of Boba Fett” at 358 million and “The Bad Batch” at 268 million. Notably absent from the chart entirely was “The Acolyte,” which reportedly failed to out-stream even “The Bad Batch” despite earlier chatter about a potential comeback in viewership via FlixPatrol rankings.

The series stars Sam Witwer reprising his voice role as Maul, alongside Gideon Adlon, Wagner Moura, and Richard Ayoade, with Filoni developing the show alongside Matt Michnovetz. A second season is already confirmed to be in development, giving the character’s animated resurgence a clear path to continue building on this year’s strong streaming performance.

For a character whose live-action debut in 1999 lasted barely more than a few minutes of screen time before his apparent death, Maul’s transformation into one of Disney+’s top-performing animated properties of 2026 speaks to just how far Filoni’s continued investment in the character’s mythology has paid off.

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