When Disney purchased LucasFilm for$4 billionback in October 2012, the first project announced wasStar Wars: The Force Awakens. Among the many questions fans wondered was if this new story would draw from the massive Expanded Universe of comic books, novels, and video games that already exist. It was later confirmed that the Expanded Universe isn’t part of the officialStar Warsmovie and TV canon. Those stories and characters won’t see the light of day on the big or small screen anytime soon. But today, we have an intriguing report fromMaking Star Wars, whose sources claim that one beloved Expanded Universe villain may debut inSeason 3ofStar Wars Rebels. There will be potential SPOILERS below, so read on at your own risk.
This report claims that Grand Admiral Thrawn will appear inStar Wars Rebels Season 3, which was renewed back in November. This character was the primary villain in Timothy Zahn’s “Thrawn Trilogy” of booksHeir to the Empire,Dark Force RisingandThe Last Command, which were published between 1992 and 1994. The report claims that this character will still be a “tactical genius” of starship warfare, who will turn his attention to the crew of The Ghost inSeason 3. There are no details yet on how he will be introduced, and who will voice thisvillain.
If this report is true, it will mark quite the departure from LucasFilm’s previous stance on theExpanded Universe. The studio announced in April 2014 that the previous Expanded Universe stories will now be re-branded under a new banner dubbed “Legends,” but they are not part of the official canon. The canon includes all seven movies,Star Wars: The Clone Wars,Star Wars Rebels, and a burgeoning series of new novels, comic books and other items that are coordinated through LucasFilm’s new story group, which is run byKiri Hart.
The Thrawn Trilogy starts five years afterStar Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi, withStar Wars Rebelsis set in the years betweenStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the SithandStar Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. It’s possible the show’s version of Thrawn may be much younger than he was in the Expanded Universe. While this report claims the character will still have several of the same traits as his EU version, such as his specialty in tactical command, it still may be a much different version of Grand Admiral Thrawn that we see on the show.
Star Wars Rebelsreturned last month to kick off the back half ofSeason 2. It isn’t known whenSeason 3will debut quite yet, but it seems likely that the show will air another TV movie special this summer, with the season kicking off in earnest this fall, like they did with the first two seasons. What do you think about Grand Admiral Thrawn coming to the small screen inStar Wars Rebels?
