Many Star Wars aficionados found themselves disappointed when they learned that the Expanded Universe was no longer considered canon. And when I say disappointed I actually mean absolutely devastated. The Star Wars EU is jam packed full of iconic characters and storylines that it simply seems like a waste not to incorporate them into the current continuity. However, if new rumors are to be believed, the franchise will actually bring a beloved EU character into the fold.
This scoop comes to us courtesy of Makingstarwars.net; the rumor indicates that Grand Admiral Thrawn will soon make an appearance on the wildly popular Star Wars Rebels series. Fans of Timothy Zahn’s 1990’s Star Wars novel trilogy will remember Thrawn as an iconic EU antagonist. A male member of the Chiss species, Thrawn is the only non-human admiral in the imperial Navy, and develops a reputation as a brilliant yet ruthless leader among the ranks of the Empire. The rumors also suggest that the upcoming season of Star Wars Rebels may take place sometime around the events of A New Hope, so the door remains open for Thrawn to have some degree of involvement in Rogue One – if we are to believe any of these rumors at all.
Even if you don’t really know anything about Thrawn, or his origin story, the implications of him potentially rejoining the primary Star Wars canon are huge. If his reintroduction the saga is successful in Rebels, then Disney may start to dig deeper into the catalogue of existing Star Wars characters, planets, and storylines that were jettisoned when they decided to ignore the Expanded Universe. This means that somewhere down the line we could finally have a film adaptation of the iconic Knights of the Old Republic video game series, or even an adaptation of the Yuuzhan Vong War – although that would have to be modified to reflect some of the major events that occurred during Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The possibilities really are endless because at this point Star Wars is a universe with one of the deepest lores in all of fiction; for any self-respecting nerd the rumor is huge news.
Of course, now for the bad news. As with all rumors there exists the possibility that this won’t end up happening and we are speculating for nothing. If it does indeed turn out to be factual and Disney decides to introduce Admiral Thrawn to the primary Star Wars continuity then it could prove to be a major game changer for the franchise going forward. We will keep you posted on the details related to this story as they become available.
