Full Series Thrawn in Rebels

If I recall correctly, Zahn mentioned that he thought Thrawn was in his 40s at the time of Rebels. He also said that he could envision Thrawn's return and attack on the New Republic taking place 15 years after Rebels when Thrawn was pushing 60, which he didn't think was especially old.

 

There's another benchmark to measure potential Chiss ages by: Aristocra Formbi.

He was already in that position in Outbound Flight (24 years BBY), and was still around by the time of the Dark Nest trilogy (35 BBY).

 

Extract from an interview with Zahn:

Thrawn is now in the Rebels cartoon. You wrote him as a post-Jedi figure, but now he’s a pre-New Hope figure. So in the new continuity is he still alive after Return of the Jedi? What’s his lifespan?


T.Zahn: He’s an alien, we don’t have to worry about that. Between Rebels and Heir to the Empire, it’s only about 15 years. It’s not that long. If Thrawn is a grand admiral at 40 or even 50, we’re talking 60s, and that’s not very old, even for human, let alone an unknown lifespan alien.

 

True enough. I can't wait for the book

 

In the trailer, the training room wall had quite a few weapons, one looked very similar to the Shadow Guard lightsaber pike.

 

Please please don't mention the training room. Judo Thrawn looked awful in that few seconds of trailer screen time. I would hate to see more

 

With the training scene plus him the ground in a few scenes, in ground combat - I think the odds of him fighting one of the hereos, possibly one of the Jedi, seems pretty high.

 

He was basically a blue-skinned John Rambo in Mist Encounter, so I have no problem whatsoever with him engaging enemy combatants if it comes down to it.

I highly doubt he's going to fight the Jedi though. More than likely it'll be Kallus who gets a beat down from that blue Adonis.

 

Just gonna admit this, I'm not a big fan of Rebels, but I haven't given it a full shot in all honesty. Seeing that Thrawn is now in it I'm very intrigued to try and watch it so I came to you guys; the fans of Rebels, to try and convince me on why it's good. I'm just gonna state, I'm not exactly into the 3D path SW TV has taken, and I'm never taken by lighthearted kids shows unless it's cartoons from my youth in the 90s. I'm willing to give the show a fair shot though, because I absolutely love Thrawn, he's IMO one of the best SW characters ever written.

Also, now that Disney is acknowledging the great character of Grand Admiral Thrawn, does that now sway the cannon of The Thrawn trilogy to make it real in their universe?

 

And he very successfully portrayed bounty hunter in Side trip (its timeline is close to the Rebels). Even Corran was impressed)

 

Well here's the thing, Thrawn's appearances in the show are sporadic at best, and he's really only had two episodes where he's a front and centre character. In terms of his characterisation, he's pretty much on point with how Zahn wrote him and Lars Mikkelsen's portrayal is fantastic, but in terms of plot he hasn't really done anything. It's clear that they're certainly building up to something for the Season Finale, but so far his subplot has been moving at a slow pace. If you don't like lighthearted animation then I really can't in good conscience recommend the show for you. I personally like it, I enjoy the Darth Maul storyline and the exploration of the Mandalorians, but Thrawn's too much of a minor presence to actively elevate the series if it isn't already something that would interest you. If you don't already love the Star Wars animated series, then Thrawn probably won't change that.

As for the Thrawn Trilogy...it's not canon. We really don't know where this storyline with Thrawn will end up, but right now he's the only canon element of that trilogy in play. Maybe they'll include elements of the trilogy in future animation/books/films, but I don't think we can say yet.

 

I am all for Zahn brining back some things, but I do want his story to be different.

 

Why? what didn't you like in his Legends story?

 

I did! I just don't want to retread territory.

 

I don't think they'll repeat themselves when it comes to certain events, but when it comes to Thrawn's fundamental character traits and backstory, that'll probably remain mostly as it was. I expect we'll get references to Outbound Flight at the very least.

 

Yes, I don't think that anyone wants Thrawn's character, temper and traits to be "changed".

And his first years in the Empire is a new period of his life we do not know about, so it's not rewriting something, it's new for everyone. I like that idea.

 

And I imagine that if Thrawn survives Rebels and they include him in Filoni's rumoured new series we might see Zahn write another novel covering more uncharted territory as well. There's a lot of room for them to play in canon.

 

I just don't see Thrawn Surviving post Endor.

 

I don't see why he can't. If they're going to do a series set after Endor (as is heavily rumoured), then it's going to need antagonists, and you can't rightly keep Maul around or go back to the Sith well after Vader and Sidious die. Thrawn leading a new faction (Empire of the Hand) is kind of the perfect toy they can use, as he'll already be established within the universe and his presence wouldn't really break canon or cause too many issues.

I mean, I don't think we're going to get a period of 30 years where absolutely nothing happens. It just doesn't make sense when you've got novels, tv shows, films to explore so much uncharted time within the series.

 

I just have a feeling that if you were apart of the empire you either surrendered after Jakku or you went into the unknown regions with the rest of the fleet.

 

There were Imperial holdouts after the fact, even if they weren't especially powerful or threatening...but more to the point, if Thrawn's sent out to the Unknown Regions at some point before Endor, there's every chance that he and the Seventh Fleet might actually miss the entire Battle of Jakku and whatever plans that Rax and Hux sr had prepared. I could very easily imagine a scenario, perhaps in one of the early episodes of whatever Dave Filoni's new series ends up being, with Thrawn returning to the Galaxy after years far away from the conflict only to find himself the last vestige of the old Empire, forgotten about by his enemies and allies alike.

 

You'd think the first order would have a way to reach him though once he had come back.

 

Would they even want him? You have to remember that they weren't the sole successors to the Empire, they were the fanatics and Dark Side acolytes of Palpatine that were dedicated to his mystical pursuits and taking his cult of personality even further. Rax showed that he considered the various Grand Generals and Grand Moffs to be his political rivals and did everything he could to kill them or undermine their position. I'm not sure a purely pragmatic military leader like Thrawn would be someone they'd necessarily want on their side, he seems too sane for them. Plus, it'd probably serve their purpose just as well to watch Thrawn and the New Republic weaken each other,so that they'd have a greater advantage when they did decide to directly attack.

 

True enough. As long as Thrawn stays away for a few years after Endor I am good.

Do we know how big the Seventh fleet is?

I am assuming there is probably 12 fleets all together since in legends and presumably Canon there was 12 Grand Admiral at a time.

 

Also, why would Rax elevate Sloane (sorry, SLOANE) to the rank of grand admiral if he already a perfectly good and highly experienced one already lying around?