Star Wars fans have been clamoring to see the long-time, fan-favorite character Grand Admiral Thrawn appear in a live-action Star Wars show. And the latest buzz about the possibility of that finally happening has fans wondering who will play a live-action Thrawn on screen.
For those who are unfamiliar with the character, he’s a Legends character who comes from the novels written by Timothy Zahn. And thanks to Disney’s good graces, he’s become a part of the new canon too. We’ve seen him on screen in the animated form in episodes of Star Wars Rebels. And there’s currently a book series being released about Thrawn, still written by Timothy Zahn.
Needless to say, with such a long history in the Star Wars universe, if characters like Ahsoka Tano and Bo-Katan Kryze can come to life from the animated world to the live-action one, so can Thrawn. And one of the actors who fans have most requested to play Thrawn is Doctor Strange actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
So far, Lucasfilm has not officially said that Thrawn will be a part of their live-action universe yet. And that means Thrawn hasn’t been cast in the Star Wars universe. But with the help of artist ApexForm on Instagram and their fan art, we get a pretty good idea of what Cumberbatch would look like if he did take on the role.
What Benedict Cumberbatch could look like as Grand Admiral Thrawn in Star Wars
We have to say, this fan art of Cumberbatch as the Chiss admiral looks absolutely stunning. And it certainly has us convinced that he could pull off the menacing role.
In Star Trek: Into Darkness, Cumberbatch pulled off his own take on the role of Khan — of course, a fan-favorite antagonist in the Star Trek universe. And because he’s such a great actor, we know that Thrawn would be yet another role he can handle. Even when it comes to action, we’ve seen the actor do so much of it as Doctor Strange in his solo movie and others like Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame. So again, he certainly is fit for this role.
The one downside to this is that when Cumberbatch was asked about the role of Thrawn, he didn’t seem all too eager to accept a role right now — and because of how busy he is, it makes sense. He told Collider: “I have precious time with my children and I think sitting in a makeup chair and being painted blue, and the amount of time it would take to do that and then take it off at the end of the day might just… it’s not the right time in my life for that.”
So, now may not be the best time to bring him into the role, but we’re sure fans would love to see Thrawn come to the live-action world no matter who’s playing him.
Would you like to see Benedict Cumberbatch as Thrawn, or would you love to see someone else in the role? Let us know in the comments!