One of the highlights of Star Wars: Ahsoka was seeing the first-ever live-action Grand Admiral Thrawn. The best part was that the same man who voiced him in Star Wars Rebels, Lars Mikkelsen, portrayed him. At the end of Ahsoka, Thrawn escapes far-off Peridea, where he’s been in exile since the end of Rebels. And no doubt, he’s about to make a very unwelcome return to an unsuspecting galaxy. Likely, this will happen in the untitled Dave Filoni-directed movie, taking place within The Mandalorian timeframe. Now, Filoni has dropped some hints as to what we might see for the returning Imperial genius. And who he will battle.
In an interview with Empire magazine, Filoni said “[Thrawn’s] foil throughout Rebels was Hera. Pitting the two generals against one another is something that I find interesting.” Just based on that tidbit, it seems we could see Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) leading the charge when Thrawn sets his sights on the New Republic. And she may be doing so by going rogue. As Ahsoka showed us, the New Republic doesn’t seem to fear any of the Imperial Remnant. They just don’t seem to think of Thrawn as much of a threat to the galaxy as he was under Palpatine.
Filoni also mentioned that he wants to see Thrawn united with a familiar character. “We set up Captain Pellaeon in The Mandalorian [season three], and that’s a character that goes with Thrawn, so I’d love to see the two of them together.” Author Timothy Zahn originally introduced Gilad Pellaeon in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire, which also introduced Thrawn. This novel also kicked off the whole Expanded Universe in earnest. Pellaeon appeared briefly in live-action as part of the Shadow Council in The Mandalorian, still believing that his master Thrawn was out there and would return. Looks like Filoni is setting him up as Thrawn’s right-hand man once more. We can’t wait to see what fresh hell these two cook up for the New Republic.