Fans have been eating up all the brand new information coming out of Disney and Lucasfilm's Star Wars Celebration in London this weekend but they just broke the internet with some huge news – a famous Legacy character is coming to Star Wars Rebels.
Star Wars Rebels is gearing up for its third season and they are not holding back. Set 14 years after Revenge of the Sith and five years before the first Star Wars, the animated series has forged its own path while also continuing story lines from the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series.
“Governor Price, these Rebels have proven particularly stubborn. How do you intend to solve this problem?” asks Tarkin in the Season 3 trailer which debuted at Celebration. “I need someone who sees a bigger picture,” she replies…
Grand Admiral Thrawn is voiced by Lars Mikkelsen, whose brother is #RogueOne's Mads Mikkelsen. #StarWarsRebels #SWCE
– Star Wars (@starwars) July 16, 2016
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Grand Admiral Thrawn is back! Arguable the most famous Legacy (previously called “Expanded Universe”) character, Thrawn was introduced in a novel trilogy in the 90s. He'll be voiced on Star Wars Rebels by Lars Mikkelsen, brother to Rogue One's Mads Mikkelsen.
#Rebels news: The series is bringing in fan favorite Imperial Admiral Thrawn for Season 3! #SWCE pic.twitter.com/4Nj8w3R06N
– Kate Erbland (@katerbland) July 16, 2016
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Check out his debut in the Star Wars Rebels Season 3 trailer, which premiered at Star Wars Celebration.
“Where to begin,” said executive producer Dave Filoni, “We've got your back at Lucasfilm. We're all good. Look, you couldn't have grown up a Star Wars fan without encountering Thrawn. And 'Heir to the Empire' was a significant part of most of our lives growing up. There was a dark time where there weren't new movies and we were looking for new material and all of a sudden there's a trilogy of books called 'Heir to the Empire'…blew our minds. Like, how could there be more?”
Thrawn on #StarWarsRebels won”t have the Ysalamiri connection (though there are some visual homages to it glimpsed in trailer). #SWCE
– Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) July 16, 2016
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“It was always on a lot of our minds,” he continued. “We tried to strategize on when it would be best to bring him in and…it was important to do it right to kind of build the series in the right way. And a bit part of that too is finding the right actor to play that part. And I have to say, this was one of the most challenging characters that we ever had to cast in Grand Admiral Thrawn. We're really lucky we got Lars Mikkelsen to come in and play him. He's fantastic.”
But they didn't stop there. Thrawn creator, Timothy Zahn, is writing another novel simply named Thrawn.
That announcement was so artfully done. Star Wars #Thrawn by Timothy Zahn coming spring 2017. pic.twitter.com/RPJFQQQrPI
– Star Wars Books (@DelReyStarWars) July 16, 2016
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I won't pretend to be an expert on the EU but I know this is a HUGE deal. It also inevitably brings to mind other Legacy characters fans are hoping to see brought into current continuity such as…
“Saw that coming” says Filoni when a fan asks if Mara Jade can now become part of #StarWarsRebels, after Thrawn. “Not likely” he says. #SWCE
– Eric Goldman (@TheEricGoldman) July 16, 2016
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I'll just take that to mean she's getting her own solo film…