Who is Grand Admiral Thrawn? Ahsoka’s big Star Wars villain, explained

Early episodes of AhsokaThe new Disney Plus series starring Rosario Dawson has a big name hanging over it: Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Fans have known he’d be involved with the series for a while — news of his return was teased in AhsokaThere are also some teasers and updates. The MandalorianSeason 2. But within the universe, his return isn’t guaranteed; as Ahsoka tells Hera (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), she’s mostly been hearing whispers that he survived. She’s hopeful he did, if only because it bodes well for her chances of finding Ezra, and possibly being able to actually kill Thrawn.

In case you aren’t caught up on the wider, non-movie Star Wars canon, here’s a brief introduction to Thrawn, and everything you need to know about one of Star Wars’ most beloved villains.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for The Mandalorian season 2 episode 5, Star Wars: Rebels, and the Thrawn novels, as well as some light Ahsoka episode 1 setup spoilers.]

Grand Admiral Thrawn is an Imperial officer who was first introduced to the Star Wars universe in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel The Heir of the Empire. The novel and its two sequels which — later known as the Thrawn trilogy — took place shortly after Return of the Jedi. Zahn’s books filled readers in on what happened to the Galactic Empire in the years after the death of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine — sort of. Thrawn actually happened.

Thrawn has been reintroduced to the Star Wars universe in a new trilogy. The Star Wars original trilogy, which Disney purchased when it bought Star Wars was decanonized. Star Wars: RebelsZahn also wrote a number of other novels. In these new novels, Chiss is reintroduced as a tactician of brilliant ability and an able successor to Palpatine.

Rather than treading the same ground as his original trilogy, which took place in a period that is now covered by Disney’s sequel trilogy, Zahn’s latest Thrawn books tell the story of how Thrawn came to join the Empire and his meteoric rise through its ranks.

Though Thrawn’s Imperial career is impressive, it’s the time after his days as a cadet that is most important for this latest mention in The Mandalorian. Thrawn’s first official post-Disney reintroduction came in Star Wars: Rebels, where he became one of the show’s primary antagonists for its last two seasons, attempting to quell the rebellion in its infancy.

In the show’s finale, Thrawn faces off with Rebels protagonist Ezra Bridger. While on-board Thrawn’s command ship the Chimaera, Ezra catches Thrawn off guard by attacking his fleet of ships with purrgil, giant tentacled creatures capable of hyperspace travel. Thrawn is aboard with Bridger when the Purrgil take the Chimaera into the deepest space. Though apparently both of them survive the journey, which is exactly how we get to Thrawn’s mention in The Mandalorian.

In the latest episode, called “The Jedi,” Mando and The Child (who has a real name now), head to the planet of Corvus and meet Ahsoka. She last appeared in a Star Wars show at the end of RebelsWhen she was accompanied by Mandalorian Sabine Wren on their quest to locate Ezra following his jump into hyperspace, which had been aided by purrgils.

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It seems that quest is still ongoing because Ahsoka’s target is someone named Morgan Elsbeth, who turns out to have been taken under the wing of Thrawn himself. Elsbeth, who was a major figure in building up the Imperial Navy Fleet during the Galactic Empire’s days, was reportedly a very important person. That would explain why Thrawn liked her. Ahsoka faces Elsbeth at the very end of this episode. After Ahsoka has won, the only thing she wants to know is where Grand Admiral Thrawn is.

AhsokaIt picks back up some years after that, as Elsbeth gets released and Ahsoka is on the hunt, finding a clue in an old Witches of Dathomir’s temple which will eventually lead her to Thrawn. (And, hopefully, Ezra.) While this doesn’t exactly reveal what Thrawn’s been up to since we last saw him, it does seem that he’s alive, and possibly an important part of the Empire in its waning days. What’s more, given the post-Return of the Jedi time period, it certainly seems possible that if Thrawn’s still active, he could have been a key figure in transitioning the Empire into the First Order.

No matter what he’s involved in, there’s no doubt that it’s important. This is the first time Grand Admiral Thrawn has appeared in a live action movie.