LONDON -- Ask any reader of Star Wars novels which book character they'd like to see on screen, and invariably you'll get one answer: Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Thrawn, a blue-skinned strategic genius who learns how to make war on alien races by studying their artworks, is the focus of Heir to the Empire -- the bestselling 1991 novel by Timothy Zahn that restarted the franchise post-Return of the Jedi.
Thrawn was erased from official canon, and shunted over into the universe-next-door of Star Wars novels and comics now branded as "Legends," back in 2014.
Now, after years of false rumors -- that he was going to be in The Force Awakens, that he was going to be played by Benedict Cumberbatch -- Thrawn is finally showing up on screen. He'll be in season 3 of Star Wars Rebels, producer Dave Filoni announced at Star Wars Celebration in London.
"Heir to the Empire blew our minds," Filoni told a capacity audience of 4,000. "We tried to strategize when it would be best to bring [Grand Admiral Thrawn] into Rebels." He also revealed that Zahn is writing a new Star Wars novel, his first since the 2014 reset, simply called Thrawn.
The crowd was then shown the first episode of Rebels Season 3, which features Thrawn's first on-screen appearance. We can't say much about it, except that the admiral is as wily a character as you'd expect.
Thrawn is voiced by Danish actor Lars Mikkelsen, famous for his appearance as the Russian premier in House of Cards -- and brother of Mads Mikkelsen, who stars as the father of Jyn Erso in the upcoming Star Wars movie Rogue One.
Meanwhile, fans on Twitter -- who were watching the livestream, but weren't privvy to the episode screening -- promptly began losing their minds.
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In addition to Thrawn, the new season features another fan favorite character, Wedge, a pilot seen in Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
And Tom Baker, best known as the fourth incarnation of the Doctor in Doctor Who, plays a new force-sensitive giant called Bendu.
Rebels season 3 premieres this fall in the U.S. on Disney XD. No premiere date has been announced.
Topics Star Wars
