Who is Thrawn in Star Wars: Ahsoka villain and heir to the Empire

Thrawn officially returns to Star Wars and will be able to participate in live-action. Star Wars legendary alien admiral Thrawn is now officially back in the Star Wars universe. Mandalorian, it seems he’ll play a pivotal role in Ahsoka Tano’s new Disney Plus series as its main villain. The trailer, released by Lucasfilm and Disney at Star Wars Celebration 2023, even features him briefly.

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, as well as Star Wars: Rebels and the Thrawn novels]

Why is Thrawn the “heir to the Empire”?

Grand Admiral Thrawn is an Imperial officer who was first introduced to the Star Wars universe in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel Heir to Empire. The novel and its two sequels which — later known as the Thrawn trilogy — took place shortly after the events of 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 supposed death of Emperor Palpatine. Thrawn, it turns out was a real thing.

Thrawn was brought back in after the original trilogy was cancelled by Disney when it bought Star Wars. Star Wars: RebelsZahn wrote several new novels. In these novels, the Chiss blue-skinned alien race from Csilla was introduced as an excellent tactician and worthy successor to Emperor 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.

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. Bridger and Thrawn board the Chimaera at the end of the episode, when it is taken into deep space by the purrgil. Apparently both of them survive the journey, which is probably how we get to Thrawn’s mention in Mandalorian.

What is Thrawn’s role in The Mandalorian and Ahsoka?

Season 2 Episode 5 Mandalorian, called “The Jedi,” Din Djarin and Grogu head to the planet of Corvus and meet former-Jedi Ahsoka Tano. In the episode, Tano explains that she’s tracking down someone that Thrawn took under his wing in a search for the Grand Admiral’s current whereabouts.

While she doesn’t explain exactly why she wants to find Thrawn, it’s likely that it has something to do with the whereabouts of Ezra Bridger. Tano’s last appearance in a Star Wars series before this was at the end of RebelsShe was on her way to Bridger with Sabine Wren (a Mandalorian warrior). Whatever the reason is, it seems that Ahsoka’s quest for Thrawn will play an important role in the plot of her Disney Plus series.

Trailer 1 Ahsoka makes this even more clear, by letting us know that Thrawn is back and working to rebuild the Empire — and maybe even revive Palpatine himself.

Who’s going to play Grand Admiral Thrawn?

This is probably the biggest outstanding question about Thrawn’s place in Disney’s Star Wars universe. Thrawn voice actor Lars Mikkelsen has said that he isn’t playing the character in live-action, and though people have fibbed about their roles in blockbusters before, that leaves the door open for all kinds of choices. Disney may choose to cast a well-known character actor for the role or go with stunt casting and select someone extremely famous. But for now, we’ll just have to wait and see what direction Disney chooses to go.

As for his role in the story itself, it’s still anyone’s guess where Thrawn’s plot will go, and how it will tie into the Empire, the First Order, or even the stories of Ezra and Sabine, but the good news is we won’t have to wait long to find out. Thrawn’s return to Star Wars, and his live-action debut, aren’t far away. AhsokaDisney Plus will release the movie this summer.