What's Next For Grand Admiral Thrawn?

In Timothy Zahn's classic Star Wars Legends novel, 1991's Heir to the Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn and his imperial forces reclaim Mount Tantiss, the Emperor's secret storehouse. Soon afterward, the Chiss Grand Admiral begins to produce a new clone army for the Empire, tipping the scales back in the Empire's favor in their war against the fledgling New Republic.

In the recent ending of The Bad Batch, Mount Tantiss was abandoned by the Empire, with all of its research destroyed. With Thrawn having returned to the galaxy at the end of Ahsoka, will he eventually head to Mount Tantiss and begin the Clone Wars anew as he did in Legends? Let's explore what may happen next for everyone's favorite red-eyed tactician.

At the end of Ahsoka, Grand Admiral Thrawn returns to the galaxy with three Great Mother Nightsisters and an army of undead Night Troopers, headed for Dathomir. Though very few of them are left, Dathomir remains the dominion of the Nightsisters. Upon reaching this planet, I assume that the Nightsisters accompanying Thrawn will begin to regain their strength and bolster the Night Troopers with their magicks.

Going this route would distinguish Thrawn's plan from that of bringing back the clones as he did in the Legends continuity. Personally, I thought that the Night Troopers were a very cool addition to the Star Wars universe, and I am enjoying Thrawn's alliance with the Nightsisters. During the era of the New Republic, the Empire finds themselves turning to whatever means necessary in order to hold onto the fraction of the power they have left, including working with one of the Emperor's former adversaries: the Nightsisters. I'd be curious to see if any of the surviving Jedi, like Luke Skywalker or Ezra Bridger, seek out any living members of the Mountain Clan of Dathomir, to have magicks of their own on the side of good.

Let's say, though, that Thrawn's plans with the Nightsisters fail, and he decides to head to Mount Tantiss to rebuild and revive the clone army, repeating what occurred in Legends. Though the research conducted on Tantiss was destroyed by Nala Se, those who are familiar with her Kaminoan science of cloning still live, Emerie and Omega, for example. They, along with Boba Fett and surviving clones like Rex, were created from the DNA of Jango Fett.

With all that in mind, a new clone army would be entirely possible, and a new Clone Wars would be far more interesting in this continuity, given how much we have now seen of the conflict. To see surviving Clone Wars veterans like Rex and Ahsoka reckon with a new Clone Wars would be a deep, emotionally painful experience for them and for us too. Though it may be quite similar to what happened in Legends, I personally think that it would be a thoroughly compelling story due to how much more knowledge we now have of the Clone Wars than we did in the early 1990s.

Whatever may happen, I am very much looking forward to what happens next with Grand Admiral Thrawn and his plans for the Empire. Though we know how it all ends with the eventual rise of the First Order, the building of the New Republic era that began with The Mandalorian has been incredibly fascinating and will only continue to be so. Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of Star Wars' finest characters, and I can't wait to see his next ingenious scheme, as no matter what it is, it will absolutely define this era of Star Wars storytelling.