When the Lucasfilm Story Group announced that the previous Expanded Universe of Star Wars novels would be relegated to “Legends” and no part of the official canon, fans cried out for the loss of their favorite characters. This weekend at Star Wars Celebration, one such character made the leap from Legend to reality: Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Thrawn was originally the formidable and unforgettable villain in Timothy Zahn’s trilogy starting with Heir to the Empire. The books are considered by many to be the best of the novels released in the Expanded Universe, and probably one of the biggest losses when the EU was declared no more.
But now fans are celebrating the announcement of not just Thrawn’s appearance in the upcoming third season of Star Wars Rebels, but also a new standalone novel penned by Zahn himself, Star Wars: Thrawn.
Other new revelations in the new season’s trailer is that a lot of time has passed since we last saw the crew of the Ghost. Ezra is older and has grown in his Force powers; Sabine is sporting not just a new look, but taking on a larger leadership role with the group.
Bendu is a new character for the season, old, wise, and powerful, and voiced by Doctor Who‘s Tom Baker. Catch a glimpse of him and our heroes below in the new trailer:
Season 3 of Star Wars Rebels debuts this fall on Disney XD.
All photos: Lucasfilm / Disney XD
I’m nearly as excited to see Wedge make an appearance. As a defector TIE Pilot, no less!
And the Bendu storyline will be fascinating to see. The interesting thing about it is that GL’s original name for the Jedi when he was developing his first script was the Jedi Bendu. Just like they reused the name “Ashla” as the Lasat name for the Force last season (Lucas originally used that as the name for the Light Side of the Force and it has been used in some SW graphic novels “The Dawn of the Jedi”), I’m glad to see them using the original ideas to flesh out the philosophy of the Force.
I love the background they’re setting up for Wedge as a defector from the Imperial Academy!