They gave me the scripts for the episodes in advance, so that I was aware of the plot… The goal is for everything to fit together. Lucasfilm wanted these new books to be connected to Rebels, so I tried to make as many connections as possible. It’s the same character, in different geopolitical conditions, surrounded by different characters, but he hasn’t changed. There’s not much difference between the original Thrawn and the Thrawn of this new timeline. It was then eight months before the announcement of the Grand Admiral’s return, at Star Wars Celebration London in 2016. At the same time, we were discussing future novels about the character. Lucasfilm called me to show me concept designs for Rebels. He added that in the process of bringing Thrawn into canon, it allowed him to have a new lease to write stories with the character, a process that creatively excited him: Zahn previously praised Lars Mikkelsen’s casting, noting that he felt that he was perfect to take over for the role in live-action after giving the character a clear voice in Star Wars Rebels. We only talked briefly about all this but Dave promised to meet the writers and discuss with them in the near future.” And I am of course available to help them if needed. So I think everything will be fine, as long as Filoni and Jon Favreau remain at the helm. Dave Filoni showed in Rebels that he understood the character. He is a tactician, always ahead of his enemies. “The danger is that the screenwriters write it badly. But he believes that Dave Filoni is up to the task for Ahsoka: Captain Pellaeon is his Doctor Watson, someone he can explain his thoughts to for the reader to understand.”Īnd it’s for this reason that Zahn believes that Thrawn is a tough character for other writers to do right unlike many Star Wars villains, Thrawn is a tactician first and less of a physical threat, making him more difficult to write for.

I was inspired by historical military and we must add a touch of Sherlock Holmes for intelligence and the ability to deduce. “I wanted my character to be someone his men would follow out of loyalty, unlike Palpatine or Vader who manipulate and use fear. When asked about the start of his story ( Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command), noted that he wanted to create a Star Wars antagonist unlike any one previously seen, so he made an effort to emphasize Thrawn as a military leader as opposed to a dark sorcerer:

In an interview with CloneWeb (translated from French), Zahn talked extensively about the past, present, and future of Thrawn as a character. Timothy Zahn explained why he thinks that Grand Admiral Thrawn is a difficult character to adapt - and why he believes that Dave Filoni is up to task to do just that with the Ahsoka series.

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