The Expanded Universe might no longer be canon, with those stories now assigned to the Legends universe, but many standout characters and concepts from the old EU have wormed their way back into modern Star Wars canon, and Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of them.
As created by author Timothy Zahn, the blue-skinned Imperial villain was a major antagonist on Rebels, as voiced by Lars Mikkelson. And the latest info points to Thrawn returning in a whole new medium, as scooper Mikey Sutton has shared on his Geekosity Facebook page that the foe is set to appear in some future live-action project.
“I’ve held onto this for months now, and I’m tired of waiting for additional details to put this out. Thrawn will make his live-action debut, I am told, possibly in the next two years.”
Like Sutton says, he doesn’t have all the details yet so he’s currently unable to pinpoint where exactly in Lucasfilm’s upcoming plans for the galaxy he’s going to turn up. Given how much content the studio is expected to produce for D+, though, maybe we can narrow it down to one of the live-action Star Wars TV shows, like The Mandalorian? Or perhaps the Cassian Andor spinoff? After all, We Got This Covered told you several weeks ago Thrawn was coming to live-action and we’ve heard that it may indeed be in the Rogue One spinoff.
On a related note, Sutton claimed that he’s heard Lucasfilm is planning to focus more on live-action content from now on, given The Mandalorian‘s popularity.
“There’s chatter among my sources that Lucasfilm will gradually decrease their animated Star Wars projects. Notice I didn’t say cancel. There’s a preteen crowd that cartoons aimed at their generation will provide a gateway into this IP. But with the massive success of The Mandalorian, Disney strongly believes the franchise is better served with live action, especially with Dave Filoni at the helm.”
He also promised that creators like Favreau and Filoni are keen to bring back more concepts from the Legends stories. “The EU is coming. Bank on it,” Sutton said.
So, watch out for Thrawn’s return – as well as potentially more EU characters – in Star Wars‘ future.
