Thrawn - a new novel by TIM ZAHN coming 2017

[RogueIce]

So during the Star Wars Rebels panels at SW Celebration Europe, they revealed a new novel by Timothy Zahn titled, simply, "Thrawn"

Also, the eponymous character is CONFIRMED on Rebels - and Filoni made sure to bring in Zahn during the production!

[Crazedwraith]

Here comes the new EU. Just like the old EU.

They could at least try for originality.

[Ace Pace]

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Thrawn wasn't a bad character and Zahn knows how to setup interesting stories and worlds. You can keep the "brand names" without the trash.

[Solauren]

Also the Thrawn Trilogy can be fit in nicely to the new timeline.

Han and Leia's third child was named Ben instead of Anakin.

Ben killed Jaina and Jacen when he turned.

Done.

[RogueIce]

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. Thrawn wasn't a bad character and Zahn knows how to setup interesting stories and worlds. You can keep the "brand names" without the trash.

Indeed.

Look, they already said from the start that Legends would be a source to draw upon. Why not bring back the good* parts while keeping the rest in the dustbin of history?

*Of course I know this is subjective, but you can't deny Thrawn is hugely popular if nothing else. The fact they're having Zahn himself involved with him just shows to the Disney haters that yes, they do care.

Also on another note I'm just glad that Zahn is back writing Star Wars because I love his work. He doesn't have to do Thrawn - and he did quite a bit of good outside of Thrawn, like Scoundrels and Allegiance - so I'm thrilled just to see "Timothy Zahn" on the cover of a new SW book.

[Iroscato]

Oh nice. Never really touched the old EU but I've of course heard that Thrawn was meant to be one of the best parts of it.

As a side-note, Lars Mikkelsen pretty much has the perfect look to physically play Thrawn at some point as well as voicing him in Rebels. Perhaps the plan is to introduce the character to future movies as well...

[Kingmaker]

Thrawn's character concept can easily be salvaged without needing to reproduce the exact storylines he was involved in before. And yeah, Zahn was one of the best parts of the EU, so bringing him back in is a smart move (IMO, he had a hand in almost all of the good post-ROTJ stuff in some way, even if it was just people borrowing his characters.)

[Simon_Jester]

Here comes the new EU. Just like the old EU.

They could at least try for originality.

Thrawn is one of the best things about the old EU. If they can keep him while dumping silly things and bad characterization and so on, then that's a victory.

Having Zahn be one of the first people to come in and try to bridge the gap between Episodes VI and VII may be a good thing overall.

Also the Thrawn Trilogy can be fit in nicely to the new timeline.

Han and Leia's third child was named Ben instead of Anakin.

Ben killed Jaina and Jacen when he turned.

Done.

I'd rather NOT give Han and Leia extra children whose sole purpose in-story is to die at the hands of their sibling, actually.

[Crazedwraith]

Here comes the new EU. Just like the old EU.

They could at least try for originality.

Thrawn is one of the best things about the old EU. If they can keep him while dumping silly things and bad characterization and so on, then that's a victory.

Having Zahn be one of the first people to come in and try to bridge the gap between Episodes VI and VII may be a good thing overall.

I'm not saying the Thrawn Trilogy wasn't good. I'm just saying I'd have preferred to keep the old and new EU distinct.

Besides TTT was good. The later books and short stories.... less so. There was tendency for Zahn to make behind the scenes of everything canon. Sidetrip was especially horrible. Making him responsible for the victory of Derra IV and Veer's promotion to general. And that quote from the novel well he's like 'You should kill all these ewoks before they become a nuisance and set up a killzone!'.

I'm actually more optimistic about the appearances in Rebels were Zahn is a consultant not in complete charge of the character.

[Adam Reynolds]

Though I wonder what role Thrawn could have in the new continuity as the war seems to have ended rather abruptly after Endor. I believe the number is a mere seven years. Though one of Zahn's tactics was already canon. Ashoka used the Marg Sabl closure manuver in Storm Over Ryloth, created by Zahn. Filoni was a fan of the old EU in many cases, also adding Darth Bane back into canon.

I also wonder if Mara Jade will make a return? Assuming the apparently obvious, Rey does need a mother, and several potential actions in TFA reminded me of her, like leaving the Millennium Falcon for her daughter as well as having the willingness to leave Rey in that environment for her protection. Mara was nothing if not pragmatic, and would have hid Rey to protect her from Snoke. With the new continuity, Mara could be a inquisitor that reported to the Emperor directly or something like a bounty hunter that was more neutral but occasionally did jobs for the Empire.

As a side-note, Lars Mikkelsen pretty much has the perfect look to physically play Thrawn at some point as well as voicing him in Rebels. Perhaps the plan is to introduce the character to future movies as well...

Apparently Forrest Whittaker's character in Rouge One was introduced in Clone Wars(a resistance fighter from Onderon). So there is now a precedent for this idea.

Also the Thrawn Trilogy can be fit in nicely to the new timeline.

Han and Leia's third child was named Ben instead of Anakin.

Ben killed Jaina and Jacen when he turned.

Done.

For the even more obvious Ben was their son with no siblings. The whole second generation twins thing isn't really necessary and the plot could have been identical with one child rather than two. Given that Ben had such a hard time killing his father, does it make sense that he would have been able to kill his siblings?

Thrawn's character concept can easily be salvaged without needing to reproduce the exact storylines he was involved in before. And yeah, Zahn was one of the best parts of the EU, so bringing him back in is a smart move (IMO, he had a hand in almost all of the good post-ROTJ stuff in some way, even if it was just people borrowing his characters.)

Apart from the X-wing novels, which ranged from okay to good, I would say the only truly good books from that era were the Zahn ones.

[Pelranius]

Here comes the new EU. Just like the old EU.

They could at least try for originality.

Thrawn is one of the best things about the old EU. If they can keep him while dumping silly things and bad characterization and so on, then that's a victory.

Having Zahn be one of the first people to come in and try to bridge the gap between Episodes VI and VII may be a good thing overall.

I'm not saying the Thrawn Trilogy wasn't good. I'm just saying I'd have preferred to keep the old and new EU distinct.

Besides TTT was good. The later books and short stories.... less so. There was tendency for Zahn to make behind the scenes of everything canon. Sidetrip was especially horrible. Making him responsible for the victory of Derra IV and Veer's promotion to general. And that quote from the novel well he's like 'You should kill all these ewoks before they become a nuisance and set up a killzone!'.

I'm actually more optimistic about the appearances in Rebels were Zahn is a consultant not in complete charge of the character.

I always took Thrawn's Endor comments as just some common sense military advice that anyone (with enough balls) would have told the Emperor, like "don't send tanks into urban combat without infantry support".

I wonder if we'll see Pellaeon as well?

[Galvatron]

Interesting that Thrawn wasn't identified in the Tarkin novel as a member of the Joint Chiefs. Nor was he chosen over Tagge to lead the military after the Batte of Yavin.

It seems like we're entering another era of conflict between the show and the comics/novels, fellas.

[Pelranius]

Interesting that Thrawn wasn't identified in the Tarkin novel as a member of the Joint Chiefs. Nor was he chosen over Tagge to lead the military after the Batte of Yavin.

It seems like we're entering another era of conflict between the show and the comics/novels, fellas.

Well, the Joint Chiefs in Tarkin were in the sixth year of Palpatine's reign, which could be well before Thrawn made flag rank.

And Tagge may have become the post Yavin military leader by sheer dint of seniority, in that case.

[Galvatron]

Or this version of Thrawn died before ANH instead of five years after ROTJ. Then again, maybe I'm right about him winding up as the unidentified fleet admiral from the Aftermath novels.

I'm also annoyed to see the return of his silly white uniform since Thrawn isn't an ISB officer. If I were writing this new Thrawn, I'd say that he had it specially tailored and that it's not a regulation starfleet officer's uniform, much less the standard uniform for all grand admirals.

Also, it's possible that grand admirals exist outside the normal chain of military command. Additionally, their rank would give them the authority to assume command wherever they go. In that sense, they're not unlike Vader himself.

[Reyvan]

That mysterious Admiral has been identified in the second novel, he's Fleet Commander Gallius Rax, so not Thrawn. Though I'm not far enough into the new Aftermath to say much else about him yet.

[Galvatron]

I saw that after I posted. However, his bio sounds a lot like what I'm envisioning for Thrawn:
Spoiler

Essentially a ghost until two decades before the Battle of Jakku, he first appeared on an Imperial roster at age 20 as a commander, an abnormal rank for someone with no history in the Imperial Military. His first assignment was to the Galactic Empire's Naval Intelligence Agency, stationed primarily in the Outer Rim. His reports, designated "Eyes Only" for Imperial Security Bureau agent Wullf Yularen, bypassed Vice Admirals Screed and Rancit in the chain of command. Following the destruction of the first Death Star and the death of Yularen, his reports were sent directly to Emperor Palpatine himself.

If I were Zahn, I'd do much the same thing with Thrawn to explain his absence from so much of the saga.

[RogueIce]

Interesting that Thrawn wasn't identified in the Tarkin novel as a member of the Joint Chiefs.

Why should he be? If you take the US perspective of things, the Joint Chiefs are administrative, not operational. There's a world of difference between, for example, the Commander of US Central Command and the Chief of Naval Operations.

Nor was he chosen over Tagge to lead the military after the Batte of Yavin.

*shrug* Politics? And wasn't at least a part of it to humble Vader? Either Thrawn was busy elsewhere and/or Palpatine saw no use in subordinating him to the Grand Admiral.

Or he's dead who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It seems like we're entering another era of conflict between the show and the comics/novels, fellas.

Look I may not have the greatest faith ever in the Story Group but at least see how he's portrayed in the show and novel before declaring doom and gloom for continuity.

[Thanas]

I'm also annoyed to see the return of his silly white uniform since Thrawn isn't an ISB officer. If I were writing this new Thrawn, I'd say that he had it specially tailored and that it's not a regulation starfleet officer's uniform, much less the standard uniform for all grand admirals.

Well first of all I am immensely glad that the Fleet Admiral wasn't Thrawn after all, a viewpoint that I have long argued for.

That being said, you can't have Thrawn without the white uniform.

[Galvatron]

That being said, you can't have Thrawn without the white uniform.

Sure you can. Just like you can make him greenish blue with red mascara.

[The Romulan Republic]

Here comes the new EU. Just like the old EU.

They could at least try for originality.

They aren't exactly identical, but I don't think the intent was ever to completely ditch the old EU. It was, rather, to give themselves the freedom to pick and choose what to keep.

I would like a bit more originality overall, but Thrawn is one part of the old EU I'm happy to have back.

Though I wonder what role Thrawn could have in the new continuity as the war seems to have ended rather abruptly after Endor. I believe the number is a mere seven years. Though one of Zahn's tactics was already canon. Ashoka used the Marg Sabl closure manuver in Storm Over Ryloth, created by Zahn. Filoni was a fan of the old EU in many cases, also adding Darth Bane back into canon.

Where are you getting seven years from? Its my understanding that Jakku was only a year after Endor, and was basically the last big stand of the Imperial loyalists (not counting the rise of the First Order, anyway). But maybe I'm behind the times. I never did follow the EU that closely.

In any case, in what way is seven years a short end to the war? I mean, compared to the 20 years of derivative Empire vs Rebels rehashing of the old EU, yeah, but I don't consider that a bad thing. I took the end of RotJ in any case as implying a fairly swift and definitive collapse of the Empire after Endor.

I also wonder if Mara Jade will make a return? Assuming the apparently obvious, Rey does need a mother, and several potential actions in TFA reminded me of her, like leaving the Millennium Falcon for her daughter as well as having the willingness to leave Rey in that environment for her protection. Mara was nothing if not pragmatic, and would have hid Rey to protect her from Snoke. With the new continuity, Mara could be a inquisitor that reported to the Emperor directly or something like a bounty hunter that was more neutral but occasionally did jobs for the Empire.

Mara's another bit I wouldn't mind having back, although if she's Rey's mother, it raises the chances that she was killed off-screen, which seems rather disrespectful and wasteful of a good character.

Anyway, I'm just going to celebrate the prospect of Thrawn appearing on my TV screen.

[Adam Reynolds]

Where are you getting seven years from? Its my understanding that Jakku was only a year after Endor, and was basically the last big stand of the Imperial loyalists (not counting the rise of the First Order, anyway). But maybe I'm behind the times. I never did follow the EU that closely.

Actually that was a mistake by me. I misread a detail from Bloodline that specified a seven year term as twice length of "offensive campaigns" during the war. I seem to have missed the second half, though I was thinking it referred to earlier battles in the leadup to Yavin as part of this.

Presumably this meant starting at Yavin and ending at Jakku, which would be five years. Though seven is hardly twice five, they could mean that the main war only really started some time after Yavin, referring to Alliance offensive campaigns leading to and following the victory at Endor, which would only be a couple years.

In any case, in what way is seven years a short end to the war? I mean, compared to the 20 years of derivative Empire vs Rebels rehashing of the old EU, yeah, but I don't consider that a bad thing. I took the end of RotJ in any case as implying a fairly swift and definitive collapse of the Empire after Endor.

I actually quite like it as well, I was merely pointing out that the EU version would never even remotely fit, unless it were compressed into a mere year. Though I do like the idea of the war expanding after Endor, as local forces buy into the Rebel Alliance and give them a navy strong enough to face the Empire, leading to victory within a year as the Empire crumbles. Though you could combine the good parts of the old EU into this timeline. The X-wing novels and Thrawn would be interesting if it all occurred simultaneously within the year leading up to Jakku. The dimension of space works better than time for a setting like Star Wars.

Mara's another bit I wouldn't mind having back, although if she's Rey's mother, it raises the chances that she was killed off-screen, which seems rather disrespectful and wasteful of a good character.

True, but given that she was an EU character who could thus die in an EU book, it isn't too bad. Rey's mother is presumably set to die anyway, and making her an interesting character would be better than not. In a way, it would be amusing if they did this, having even more commonality with the EU.

Though it is of course possible that Rey's parents are someone else entirely, leaving Mara free to be whatever fits.

[The Romulan Republic]

Would be interesting if Rey's mother is still alive, though they'd need a pretty good explanation for why she never came back for her daughter. Prisoner, maybe?

Here's an interesting thought:

If Mara, or a character similar to Mara (like Kylo Ren is not quite Jacen Solo) is Rey's mother, and left her on Jakku, then maybe she, as an Imperial operative, was present in the Imperial forces at the Battle of Jakku, and that's why it occurred to her as a place to leave Rey?

[Abacus]

I'm most disappointed in the fact that they seem to be making him a Grand Admiral right off the bat. At this point in time, he should still be a Captain or, at most, a Vice Admiral or Fleet Admiral. He didn't gain his Grand Admiral rank until between TESB and TROTJ.

[Abacus]

Would be interesting if Rey's mother is still alive, though they'd need a pretty good explanation for why she never came back for her daughter. Prisoner, maybe?

Here's an interesting thought:

If Mara, or a character similar to Mara (like Kylo Ren is not quite Jacen Solo) is Rey's mother, and left her on Jakku, then maybe she, as an Imperial operative, was present in the Imperial forces at the Battle of Jakku, and that's why it occurred to her as a place to leave Rey?

Am I the only one who didn't think that the ship young Rey sees in her memories looked an awful lot like the Jade Shadow?

[The Romulan Republic]

Can't say. I'm not enough of an EU fan to recognize the Jade Shadow on sight.

I'm most disappointed in the fact that they seem to be making him a Grand Admiral right off the bat. At this point in time, he should still be a Captain or, at most, a Vice Admiral or Fleet Admiral. He didn't gain his Grand Admiral rank until between TESB and TROTJ.

New continuity. Given they've rearranged a lot of stuff post-RotJ, it might be hard to fit Thrawn in their, so they're placing the height of his career pre-the fall of the Empire.