Throughout season 1 of Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord, Devon Izara, a young Twi’lek Jedi Padawan who survived the galaxy-wide massacre of the Jedi Order known as Order 66, had fought Maul’s attempts to lure her over to the dark side of the Force.
But when Devon watched Darth Vader slay her beloved master, Eeko-Dio Daki, something broke inside her. Her grief, rage, the years of hiding and fear… it all collapses into one terrible decision. She agrees to become Maul’s apprentice.
It feels like a choice but was it ever really one, with Maul pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Who Is Maul, and What is His Connection With Devon?
Maul, formerly known as Darth Maul, used to be a Sith Lord. The Sith are an ancient and ruthless order of Force-users who are devoted to the dark side of the Force. They follow the Rule of Two, in which there is only one master and one apprentice at any given time. Maul’s master was Darth Sidious, the man who secretly became Emperor Palpatine and twisted the galaxy into a brutal dictatorship called the Galactic Empire.
After getting sliced in half during a duel with Obi-Wan Kenobi, Maul was abandoned by Sidious and was presumed dead.
He survived and rebuilt himself as a prominent crime lord. But Sidious, who now views Maul as a threat, wants him dead. Still reeling from his humiliating defeat on Naboo and its lingering after-effects, Maul is consumed by a burning need to destroy the people who betrayed him.
He needs an ally. Someone he can point at his enemies like a weapon.
That is why he is so fixated on claiming Devon as his apprentice.
The “Choice” That Never Was
Throughout Season 1, Maul tells Devon repeatedly that the decision is hers. She can choose to be his apprentice or she can go. He frames himself as someone who is different from both the Jedi (who raised her to follow their rules) and the Sith (who take what they want).
It sounds generous but… he’s manipulating her.
Every step of Devon’s journey toward the dark side was shaped by Maul. He singled her out, sensed her pain and played with her frustrations with the Jedi Order. Piece by piece, he removed every reason she had to hold on to the light side. Remember when I mentioned that Master Daki dies at Vader’s hands? Maul helped make it happen by force pushing Daki into Vader.
Devon chose Maul, but she chose him the way a person chooses to grab the only rope in sight when they’re falling.
So… Can She Ever Leave?
Maul told Devon the decision to stay was hers. That was before she became his apprentice. Before she fell for his lies, deluded herself into believing he wasn’t as bad as the legends claimed.
Devon doesn’t know that Maul is partly responsible for Daki’s death. The only person who knows this is Captain Brander Lawson, who saw Maul’s Force push, but he died while fighting stormtroopers. The grief that drove Devon into Maul’s arms was grief he created. The choice she made wasn’t really a choice at all. It was a wound, disguised as a decision.
Maul – Shadow Lord executive producer Athena Yvette Portillo described Devon’s internal state as a “tug of war.” She was raised by the Jedi to suppress negative emotions, now she has a teacher who encourages her to feel angry, to want more. Maul isn’t freeing Devon from the Jedi’s teachings. He’s replacing one set of rules with another, and making sure she’s too consumed by rage to notice the difference.
There is something else. The show hints that Maul’s interest in Devon is not purely strategic. He looks at her and sees himself. A child whose life was ruined by outside forces she did not choose. When he catches a glimpse of his younger self, Maul declares that, “I won’t let him do this to anyone else.” He means Sidious. In a sick and twisted way, Maul probably wants to protect Devon from Sidious.
The cruel irony is that in trying to protect her from that fate, he has led her straight to it.
What Happens With Maul and Devon in the Future?
We know that by the time Maul appears in Star Wars Rebels (set roughly a decade after Shadow Lord), Maul is stranded on the planet Malachor, completely alone. No apprentice, no allies, no criminal empire.
There’s also no mention of Devon during Maul’s cameo in Solo: A Star Wars Story, which is set approximately 7 to 8 years after the events of Shadow Lord. Maul is running Crimson Dawn and Devon is nowhere to be seen. Something happens between the end of Shadow Lord and Maul’s rise to power in the criminal underworld that caused Devon’s departure. But what could have happened to her?
It’s very possible she could have died as a consequence of Maul’s vendetta against the Empire. Shadow Lord proved that Maul is no match for Darth Vader. There’s no reason to assume he’ll fare better with an apprentice at his side. If Devon follows him into open conflict with the Empire, fueled by the same revenge that drove her into his arms, she simply did not survive it. Maul has never been good at protecting the people who fight for him.
Another possibility is that somehow, Devon learns the truth about what happened to Daki and turns on Maul. Daki could always come back as a Force ghost to warn Devon. Darth Vader himself could tell Devon what really happened to turn her against Maul.
Or, Devon realizes for herself that she and Maul are completely different people with different values. Devon seems to genuinely want to do the right thing, but her head is clouded by Maul’s influence. Somewhere under the grief and the rage, that person still exists. The Jedi are gone, but the values Daki tried to give her aren’t. If Devon ever finds out the truth that Maul abandoned Daki, that revelation wouldn’t just break her loyalty. It would break everything she used to justify her fall.
Rebels gave us an idea of how Maul would have reacted to losing Devon. When Maul meets Ezra Bridger, his attempts to claim him as an apprentice are similar to how he pursued Devon. He manipulates Ezra by presenting himself as a wise man who hates the Empire, and exploits Ezra’s naivety. He even seemingly tries to kill Ezra’s master Kanan Jarrus by slashing him in the face with his lightsaber. Blinded by the attack, Kanan survives thanks to Ahsoka Tano’s intervention.
Maul falls back on the same tricks and tactics he used on Devon. Which means he either learned nothing from how things ended with Devon. Or worse, he did learn something, and this is the refined version.
The Darth Talon Theory
Devon’s design, a reddish pink-tinted Twi’lek, Force-sensitive, chosen by Maul, mirrors a character from the Star Wars: Legacy comics named Darth Talon.
When Star Wars creator George Lucas was developing his original plans for the sequel trilogy, he envisioned Maul as a powerful crime lord with a Twi’lek apprentice at his side, described as “the new Darth Vader.” Dave Filoni, who created Shadow Lord, has mentioned the show honors Lucas’s unused ideas.
The showrunners have been careful not to confirm or deny that Devon is Darth Talon. Executive producer Brad Rau didn’t deny the theory when asked about it directly, saying: “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.”
However, it’s impossible for Devon to be Darth Talon because the timeline is way off. Star Wars: Legacy is set 137 years after A New Hope. Devon’s species, Twi’leks have a similar lifespan to humans, with the average life expectancy ranging from 65 to 75 standard years. Even if Devon stayed by Maul’s side, there’s no way she could live that long.
Also Devon and Talon are two different subspecies. Darth Talon was a Lethan Twi’lek due to her red skin, while Devon has the standard pink. Plus, Maul is no longer a Sith Lord. How can Devon become Darth anything with the Rule of Two in place?
The Heart of It
Devon made an emotional decision. She was grieving, furious, and Maul was there to prey on her when she was vulnerable. That’s what grief does.
But can she ever undo that choice? And would Maul ever let her walk away? That’s the real story Shadow Lord is telling. It’s more than a chronicle of how Maul rebuilt his criminal empire, or a series with cool action sequences. At its core, it’s about a girl who chose the wrong path in her darkest moment, and whether the universe will ever give her the chance to choose again.
Given what we know of Maul’s future, it probably won’t.Season 1 of Star Wars: Maul – Shadow Lord is streaming now on Disney+. Season 2 is already in development.
