I had a chance to attend Dragon Con and sit in on a Star Wars Authors Q&A panel. One member of the group was Timothy Zahn, who is the creator of Grand Admiral Thrawn. With all the hype about the character’s live-action appearance in Ahsoka, Zahn’s thoughts on the matter were a hot topic.
When asked by the moderator, Bryan Young, Timothy shared that seeing Thrawn coming into live action was like sending your kid off to kindergarten.
He then joked, “But you don’t trust the kid!”
https://twitter.com/HopeMullinax/status/1698111284519076295
Along with Zahn and Young, the other authors included Delilah S. Dawson, Greg Keyes, Kevin J. Anderson, and Sam Maggs. With Maggs being the newest member of the Star Wars authors on the panel, she had a cute moment prior to the panel starting when meeting Timothy Zahn and Bryan Young for the first time, as she was giddy with excitement.
https://twitter.com/HopeMullinax/status/1698106505671630874
One of the other highlights from Zahn was sharing a continuity error from his Legends work. He accidentally created a 15-year gap that could not have happened in his novel. What happened was when George Lucas was creating the Prequel Trilogy, Lucas changed last minute the in-universe date on Zahn. His book was already in the process of being printed, so the mistake had to stay.
https://twitter.com/HopeMullinax/status/1698117963730112584
Timothy Zahn debuted Grand Admiral Thrawn in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire. As he stated in the panel, Thrawn was the yin to the Jedi’s yang, made to be a challenging foe to face off against. However, the Jedi had something that Thrawn could never account for in the Force. The Thrawn trilogy is one of the most beloved pieces of Star Wars media and is a pivotal inspiration for the current Ahsoka series. Thrawn first returned in Star Wars Rebels, voiced by Lars Mikkelsen, who will reprise his role in live-action.
If you wish to read about the entire panel, here is a link to the Twitter thread with all the authors’ comments. Stay up to date with all Star Wars news here on Dork Side of the Force.