New ‘Star Wars Rebels’ Featurette Explores Grand Admiral Thrawn

The character of Grand Admiral Thrawn has a deep history within the Star Wars Universe. While he was first introduced as the villain of the Timothy Zahn novel Heir to the Empire only later to be expunged from canon following the Disney acquisition in 2012, the popular character was reintroduced to the franchise in the third season of Star Wars Rebels. In conjunction with the Season 3 Blu-ray and DVD release, Lucasfilm has released a clip from a behind the scenes featurette that dives into how the iconic expanded universe character came to be on the show.

Show creator Dave Filoni spoke with Timothy Zahn about reviving the character of Thrawn for the series:

“There was a particular character that would always come up with us in our Story Group meetings, especially for our characters in the Empire, and that is Thrawn. We’ve taken him and put him into Rebels.”

Zahn replied with a hesitant but albeit excited response:

“I am honored and floored and excited and scared all at the same time.”

The clip goes into depth with the developers of the show, showing how each of them was impacted by the character of Thrawn. You can check out the clip from the behind the scenes featurette below:

Star Wars Rebels was created by Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Sherlock Holmes), and Carrie Beck. The Lucasfilm animated series is executive-produced by Filoni and Kinberg.

The series features the voice cast of Freddie Prinze Jr. as Kanan, Vanessa Marshall as Hera, Steve Blum as Zeb, Tiya Sircar as Sabine, Taylor Gray as Ezra, Sam Witwer as Maul, Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex, David Oyelowo as Agent Kallus, and Lars Mikkelsen as Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Star Wars Rebels Season 3 is available on Blu-ray and DVD today. The series is set to return later this fall for its fourth and final season. Stay tuned to Heroic Hollywood for the latest news on the future of the Star Wars franchise as we learn it.