Grand Admiral Thrawn is Coming to STAR WARS REBELS!
In case you haven't been watching the live stream panel for Star Wars Rebels at Star Wars Celebration, it was announced by showrunner Dave Filoni that fan-favorite character Grand Admiral Thrawn will be joining the third season!
Thrawn was introduced in the expanded universe in the novel Heir to the Empire, which was written by Timothy Zahn and published back in the 90s. That was the first of a trilogy of novels known as the "Thrawn trilogy". This will be the first time we see the character brought to life outside of those books and it's cool that his character will actually become canon.
Heir to the Empire offered fans our first story of what happened in the Star Wars universe after the Empire was taken out during the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi. The story isn't part of the current canon, but Thrawn is the character that took on the command of the remaining forces of the Empire to battle the New Republic.
In regards to bringing in the character Filoni says, "It was important to do it right," and then went on to reveal that they had cast Lars Mikkelsen to provide the voice of the character.
In Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn is brought in to help the Empire take down a Rebel group that is giving them problems. This is an intense and badass character. In the trailer they showed Thrawn says:
"I will pull the Rebels apart piece by piece. They'll be the architects of their own destruction."
I love that they actually pulled this character out of the expanded universe and I'm excited to see how they utilize him as in the series as an actual canon character.