Ahsoka made Star Wars history with Thrawn, but it didn’t feel like it

The Star Wars Universe needed Grand Admiral Thrawn. After the end of the Star Wars movie franchise, it was time to bring back Grand Admiral Thrawn. Return of the JediTimothy Zahn was asked by Lucasfilm to develop a Darth Vader level character, who would rival Luke Skywalker Han Solo and Leia organa during the post Empire period, as well as an epic adventure which could revive the largest blockbuster franchise ever with only prose. It was a great job.

The result was 1991’s The Heir of the Empire, a mega hit that ranked on the New York Times bestseller list, spurred the entire Star Wars publishing arm, and became a book so essential to the lore that, after Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 and decanonized the “Expanded Universe” beyond the original and prequel trilogies, Thrawn was reintroduced across mediums. Thrawn used to be a deep cut in the mid-’90s, Star Wars’ “nerdiest” era. But these days he’s a known quantity to the franchise’s book readers (having just ended another run with the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy) and cartoon watchers young and old, having been folded into the parallel original trilogy of Star Wars Rebels by George Lucas’ appointed successor, Dave Filoni.

Thrawn is a big frickin’ deal. So why wasn’t I losing my shit when he got his live-action due for the very first time?

Star Wars fans from the past would have loved a sequel trilogy focusing on Luke and a young apprentice as well as Thrawn’s vicious threats. We didn’t get that in J.J. Abrams’ Disney revival (though, in his defense, Lucas wasn’t planning to go there either if he had his way). But you can find dusty forums and Ain’t It Cool News threads full of gushing fans wishing for three decades that someone, Anyone can use this, would breathe live-action life into Zahn’s novelistic antagonist.

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Filoni, unsurprisingly, realized the dream: In episode 6 of Disney Plus’ AhsokaLoved RebelsSabine is reunited with Grand Admiral Thrawn, her old enemy, after a long journey across the galaxy. Lars Mikkelsen voices the character in this film. RebelsThe old-new version of Thrawn appears on stage, displaying his evil smile as he plans to use Night Sister’s magic. There’s a lot of bad-guy and good-guy scheming going on in AhsokaThrawn, true to his past, seems to be ahead of the game, eager to return and close plot holes left by The Force is Awakens, Last Jedi” Skywalker’s Rise. There’s no one better suited to pound away convoluted Star Wars storytelling until it bends back into shape than Thrawn; Zahn wrote him as a true force (Lowercase F). Filoni, in adapting Filoni to F. Rebels. But I can’t help but feel our guy deserved a little more from Ahsoka.

The last time we saw Thrawn he had been whisked through hyperspace by a race of space whales known as purrgils to an unknown area of the universe. Unfortunately, to get the Grand Admiral to leave known space, it was necessary to sacrifice Ezra the nice boy and a bunch of wannabe Jedi. Filoni takes up where in Star Wars The Sabine Chronicles Ahsoka There are competing forces that try to catch Thrawn, Ezra and other characters in an epic race. And when Thrawn turns up in “Part Six,” he’s given a grand-ish entrance: Director Jennifer Getzinger starts on an enormous Star Destroyer, cuts inside a temple to find a fleet of stormtroopers awaiting command, and then from the back enters an ominous figure who could only be one man.

Thrawn’s first scene is the payoff of over 30 years of fan adoration; a character nearly wiped off the slate gets to be in the streaming-era equivalent of a Star Wars movie! And yet, while the scene reaches for big-screen-worthy scope and the pang of the ultimate threat revealing itself, in execution, it doesn’t quite amount to any of Darth Vader’s iconic moves across the series. For me, as I’ve felt about so much of AhsokaThrough this point, historical momentum in the series leaves untapped the potential of stand-alone drama cinematic. Instead of fanfare, “Part Six” treated the scene as if AhsokaIt’s just a simple thing Rebels season 5, with yet another appearance by mean ol’ Thrawn.

Maybe pure terror isn’t Thrawn, a strategist who likes to play with his food. Mikkelsen retains his crisp take on Thrawn. Rebels, even in live action, and the character has the right kind of tunnel vision: All he wants to do is escape exile and revive the Empire — at all costs. It’s chilling, though not terribly satisfying for those of us who hoped to see an on-screen Thrawn chew up scenery. And maybe it’s years of seeing various actors painted over with blue highlighter in fancasting pics, but Mikkelsen’s Thrawn glow-up really does just look like a coat of face paint and a baggy last-minute Halloween costume. (I guess the Great Mothers of Peridea don’t have a tailor.)

Del Rey

The curse of expectations and picking out nits is evident. However, I feel that they are also targeting me. AhsokaThis is how: Here is a chapter in Star Wars canon that you never thought you’d see on screen, fully realized. The hype for Thrawn’s return was palpable — just look at the last year of casting rumors and image leaks out of Star Wars Celebration — and the delivery didn’t quite match. Disney Plus can’t quite replicate the energy of a movie theater full of Star Wars dorks primed to have the fires of their imaginations stoked after decades of thinking about what Thrawn could be. We got an early mid-season release on Tuesday. The Thrawn character seems to be bigger.

In a 2021 interview with Polygon, Zahn said he was likely done telling Thrawn’s story — he had mined every bit of the Grand Admiral’s past with Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy – Lesser EvilHe did everything he could. “I’ve basically told all of Thrawn’s story,” he said. “I’m treading water at this point. But it’s nice warm water!” Still, he was hopeful that if Thrawn were ever to be drawn back into a more “present” Star Wars timeline, perhaps adapted for a movie or TV project, there could be more stories to write.

I’m clinging to that; while fans may have dreamed of seeing Thrawn enter live action, he took shape in the Expanded Universe, and he’ll likely do his best (worst?) work in the pages of Zahn’s novels. Thrawn will always be a big deal, even if there’s only so much time and room for him in the live-action Star Wars universe.