The Maul – Shadow Lord finale finally brought us the Maul vs. Vader showdown we've been waiting 27 years for… and it also snuck in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it reference to Luke Skywalker, too.
In the episode, Darth Vader also fought Jedi Padawan Devon Izara and her Master Eeko-Dio Daki. During his clash with Daki, Vader hits the Jedi Master with his lightsaber over and over again from above, in a move that you might recognize from Return of the Jedi. In the throne room scene of that Star Wars movie, Luke Skywalker used the same attack on Vader when he was in danger of slipping to the dark side. Check out a comparison below.
"It's Like Poetry. They Rhyme"#maulshadowlord pic.twitter.com/ivpgnsw8xTMay 6, 2026
Vader eventually killed Daki after Maul betrayed the Jedi and Force pushed him closer to the Sith Lord. Only Brander Lawson saw what Maul did, though he stayed behind to sacrifice himself and allow the others to escape. In the aftermath, Devon finally agreed to be trained by Maul. You can read more in our Maul – Shadow Lord ending explained.
Luckily, Maul – Shadow Lord season 2 has already been confirmed, so we hopefully won't have long to wait to see what happens next. One thing that could be on the cards is Devon eventually becoming Talon, a character from George Lucas's scrapped plans for the sequel trilogy.
"We can't give away too much," supervising director Brad Rau told us of Talon speculation before the show aired. "We have heard a lot of the fan theories and speculations, and we are fascinated by them. We'll just put it at that, leave it at that."
Next up for Star Wars is The Mandalorian and Grogu, which lands in theaters this May 22. In the meantime, check out our guide to all the upcoming Star Wars movies and shows for everything else the galaxy far, far away has in store.
