Celebration Europe had a good news for long-suffering fans of the Thrawn trilogy. Grand Admiral Thrawn has been reintroduced into the Star Wars canon and will appear in the animated TV series, Star Wars Rebels.
Most of the new characters in the new canon were at least inspired by the ones from Legends. Thrawn joins a very exclusive group of characters whose transition from Legends to Canon has been intact for the most part. You have a blue-skinned Imperial whose brutal and decisive tactics are fueled by his love of art. The most noticeable difference is that he is not accompanied by a deranged Jedi clone – because cloning Jedi with their powers intact is impossible in the new canon – and the absence of his pet ysalamiri which, in the old Legends continuity, is a creature that can “block” the Force.
There’s also a new book about Thrawn coming out penned by none other than Timothy Zahn himself, no doubt guided by the Lucasfilm Story Group this time. When Zahn wrote his famous Thrawn Trilogy books, the Expanded Universe was in its infancy, and George Lucas generally allowed all writers working in his universe a significant amount of freedom (with certain topics reserved for his approval). This time Zahn won’t have to invent a timeline or the setting. Quite the opposite: Zahn would have to fit in with what Lucasfilm wants, as well as how things work in the Star Wars Universe. And that might be a good thing, because all he needs to do is to bring back Thrawn without all the craziness the old Expanded Universe used to bring.
For those of you who might be new or just casual Star Wars fans (or just wondering who the hell I’m talking about), Grand Admiral Thrawn is probably the best reason to buy a book from the Legends timeline. First appearing in “Heir to the Empire” by Timothy Zahn, Thrawn wasn’t the typical Star Wars bad guy. He was a very competent leader and a brilliant strategist whose tactics are as brutal as they were precise. He was also a pragmatic leader and someone who knows how to accept suggestions from subordinates – a trait that is still rare even in the official Star Wars canon. While I’m no longer the big Legends fan that I once was, but I’m happy that Thrawn is back. There were some changes to his features, and he was introduced into the time-line much earlier than his Legends appearance, but that’s OK.
Star Wars Rebels Season 3 will premiere later this year.