Though often overshadowed by their live-action counterparts, the animated “Star Wars” series have consistently delivered some of the most memorable moments in the Disney era. This success is largely attributed to the unique visual style pioneered by Lucasfilm, which began with the 2008 “Clone Wars” movie. While “Star Wars Rebels” and “Star Wars Resistance” introduced fresh elements, recent series like “The Bad Batch” and “Tales of the Jedi” have refined the style into a direct evolution of those initial “Clone Wars” episodes.

Though they get less attention than the live-action “Star Wars” offerings, the animated series have delivered some of the biggest highlights of the Disney “Star Wars” era. That’s due in no small part to the visual style that Lucasfilm has developed, which started in 2008 with the “Clone Wars” movie. That aesthetic has stayed pretty consistent ever since, though “Star Wars Rebels” and “Star Wars Resistance” changed things up in larger ways. But what fans have enjoyed recently on shows like “The Bad Batch” and “Tales of the Jedi” is a direct evolution of those early “Clone Wars” seasons.

The seventh season of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” captivated audiences with its stunning visuals, marking the start of a vibrant period for Lucasfilm Animation. Under the leadership of Dave Filoni, now Lucasfilm’s president, the animation division has consistently produced visually striking seasons, experimenting with various sub-styles while maintaining an overarching aesthetic. The upcoming Darth Maul series elevates this artistry with a more stylized flair, as seen in its trailer, where innovative lighting techniques and a watercolor-like effect on Maul’s lightsaber add a new dimension to the visual narrative.

The continuous enhancement of animation quality in “Star Wars” series is a testament to the evolving technology and expertise at Lucasfilm Animation. With “Maul” targeting a mature audience, bridging the gap between the “Tales” miniseries and the longer “Bad Batch” seasons, the studio is paving the way for even more innovative storytelling possibilities in the future.

Fans were quick to praise the aesthetic. “It’s been a long time since I’ve been so impressed by such a high technical level, especially the use of colors and lighting,” Reddit user u/Johnny0230 wrote on a trailer thread on r/StarWars. Similar praise fills the comments section of the trailer post on YouTube, with one post calling the animation “absolutely gorgeous” getting over 26,000 likes.

It’s a distinct strength of the animated “Star Wars” shows that each one is better-looking than the last, thanks to the slow evolution of tech and experience at Lucasfilm Animation. Now that the studio is trying something new with “Maul” — a show aimed at an older audience that lands between the “Tales” miniseries and the longer seasons of “Bad Batch” — it opens up even more exciting possibilities for what could come next.

Lucasfilm Animation seems to have hardly rested since work began on “The Clone Wars,” moving from one series to the next and gradually carving out a distinct corner of the “Star Wars” universe that feels both unique and pivotal. “Maul — Shadow Lord” is only the latest entry in that legacy, but it also might hint at the future.

“The Bad Batch” is one of the best things Disney has done with “Star Wars,” and certainly the most underrated show Lucasfilm has released on Disney+. At the same time, it makes sense why it failed to make much of a splash outside the core fandom. The first two seasons were 16 episodes each, with 15 for the third, and a release schedule that typically premiered only one a week. That format put the show in a difficult position, as it was already trying to balance the younger audience that had gravitated to “Clone Wars” and “Rebels” with more mature storylines about the early years of the Empire. Week to week, one of two very different audiences was left behind, and the data is still unclear as to how streaming works for the kinds of children’s animation that previously excelled on traditional television.

“Shadow Lord” offers a more compelling, less divided vision for future “Star Wars” animation — a 10-episode season released over five weeks, maximizing its budget and appealing to a specific audience. It’s easy to imagine a similar approach working for shorter-form series all across the “Star Wars” Disney+ timeline, provided “Maul” ends up being as good as it looks. For now, at least, the fans seem incredibly excited.