Was Grand Admiral Thrawn’s appearance inspired by Jason Isaacs?
He’s one of the most beloved villains in Star Wars, but was Grand Admiral Thrawn’s canon appearance inspired by actor Jason Isaacs?
He’s the character fans fell in love with in the legends book Heir to the Empire. Grand Admiral Thrawn was a Chiss with an agenda separate from the Empire. Now a canon character, Thrawn made his grand entrance in the Star Wars Rebels episode, ‘Steps into Shadow’.
Much of his personality remained the same, however, it was his appearance on the covers of the first canon Thrawn book that caught my eye. If you compare the image of Thrawn on the novel cover and an image of actor Jason Isaacs, there’s a resemblance between them.
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Jason Isaacs has worked on every pop culture franchise you can imagine. He was Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter films. He even played Captain Gabriel Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery. In Star Wars, he played the Grand Inquisitor in the first season of Star Wars Rebels.
Now, I don’t know about anyone else, but Thrawn’s similarities to Isaacs is uncanny. Whether this was planned is anyone’s guess, but the appearance of Thrawn to Isaacs is striking. Of course, this wouldn’t be the first time an actor’s appearance has influenced a character.
In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Lucasfilm used Pernilla August, the actress who played Shmi Skywalker Lars as a performance model. August also reprised her role in the Mortis arc. In the same episode arc, Liam Neeson was used (Qui-Gon Jinn) as a performance model. Neeson was rehired to reprise his role.
Photo credit: DelRey Books
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What do you think? Am I just jumping to conclusions or does Thrawn look like Jason Issacs? Let me know.