Thrawn is officially returning to the Star Wars universe and coming to live action for the first time ever. The alien admiral is one of the most famous and beloved expanded universe and book characters in Star Wars history, and after his name checks in The Mandalorian, it looks like he will play a central role in Ahsoka Tano’s new Disney Plus series as the main villain. He even makes a brief appearance in the series’ first trailer, which Disney and Lucasfilm premiered at Star Wars Celebration 2023.
Just in case you’re not up to speed on the wider, non-movie Star Wars canon, here’s a brief introduction to Thrawn and everything you need to know about one of Star Wars’ most beloved villains.
[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 2 episode 5, as well as Star Wars: Rebels and the Thrawn novels]
Why is Thrawn the “Heir to the Empire”?
Grand Admiral Thrawn is an Imperial officer who was first introduced to the Star Wars universe in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel Heir to the Empire. The novel and its two sequels – later known as the Thrawn Trilogy – took place shortly after the events of Return of the Jedi. Zahn’s books filled readers in on what happened to the Galactic Empire in the years following the death of Darth Vader and the supposed death of Emperor Palpatine. It turns out that Thrawn happened.
While that original trilogy of novels was decanonized when Disney bought the Star Wars franchise, Thrawn was reintroduced in Star Wars: Rebels, and was given a series of new novels also written by Zahn. These novels reintroduced the blue-skinned Chiss (a humanoid alien species from the planet Csilla) as a brilliant tactician and a worthy, more strategically adept successor to Emperor Palpatine.
Rather than treading the same ground as his original trilogy, which took place in a period now covered by Disney’s sequel trilogy, Zahn’s latest Thrawn books tell the story of how Thrawn joined the Empire and his meteoric rise through its ranks. .
Thrawn’s first official post-Disney reintroduction came in Star Wars: Rebelswhere he became one of the show’s main adversaries for the past two seasons, trying to quell the insurgency in its infancy.
In the show’s finale, Thrawn is up against rebels protagonist Ezra Bridger. While aboard Thrawn’s command ship, the Chimaera, Ezra overwhelms Thrawn by attacking his fleet of ships with purrgil, giant tentacled creatures capable of space travel. In the final moments of the show, Thrawn and Bridger are both aboard the Chimaera when the purrgil swings it into deep space. Apparently they both survive the journey, which is probably how we get to Thrawn’s entry The Mandalorian.
What is Thrawn’s role in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka?
In season 2 episode 5 of The MandalorianDubbed “The Jedi”, Din Djarin and Grogu go to the planet Corvus and meet former Jedi Ahsoka Tano. In the episode, Tano explains that she is tracking down someone Thrawn has taken under his wing in a search for the Grand Admiral’s current whereabouts.
While she doesn’t explain exactly why she wants to find Thrawn, it probably has something to do with Ezra Bridger’s whereabouts. Tano’s last appearance in a Star Wars series before that was at the end of rebels, when she and the Mandalorian warrior Sabine Wren set out to find Bridger. Whatever the reason, it looks like Ahsoka’s search for Thrawn is going to play a major role in the plot of her Disney Plus series.
The first trailer for Ahsoka makes this even clearer by letting us know that Thrawn is back and working to rebuild the Empire – and maybe even revive Palpatine himself.
Who will play Grand Admiral Thrawn?
This is probably the biggest unsolved question about Thrawn’s place in Disney’s Star Wars universe. Thrawn voice actor Lars Mikkelsen has said he won’t be playing the character in live action, and while people have lied about their role in blockbusters before, that leaves the door open for all sorts of choices. Disney could choose a beloved character actor to fill the role, or it could go the stunt-casting route and pick someone famous. But for now, we’ll just have to wait and see which direction Disney chooses to go.
As for his role in the story itself, it’s still a mystery where Thrawn’s plot will go and how it will tie in with the Empire, the First Order, or even Ezra and Sabine’s stories, but the good news is that we won’t. have to wait a long time to find out. Thrawn’s return to Star Wars and his live-action debut are not far off. Ahsoka comes out this summer on Disney Plus.