We're taking this with a pinch of salt, but Geekosity claims that an adaptation of beloved novel Heir to the Empire is set to be the first Star Wars movie made exclusively for Disney+. It won't be a direct take on Timothy Zahn's book, but is expected to serve as a "climax" to the current era of TV shows that encompasses the likes of The Mandalorian and Ahsoka.
It's been clear for a while now that these small screen stories are building to something, and Ahsoka promises to serve as a direct sequel to Star Wars Rebels. In that series, Ahsoka Tano's hunt for Grand Admiral Thrawn and Ezra Bridger looks set to continue, with Sabine Wren joining her.
The site was actually first to report on plans for Thrawn in live-action way back in 2019; later, the villain received a mention in The Mandalorian where it was strongly implied that he'd returned from wherever Ezra took him and was now pulling strings in the Galaxy Far, Far Away. Could he be tied to The First Order and Moff Gideon's apparent plot to clone a new body for Emperor Palpatine? Time will tell.
Here's the kicker, though; while this Heir to the Empire movie will make some changes to the books, it's said that Mara Jade - a Jedi and Luke Skywalker's wife in the Expanded Universe - will appear.
We'll see if any of this pans out, but we're certainly intrigued if this really is the plan for Star Wars on Disney+. Making Thrawn the true mastermind behind Gideon and those formidable Dark Troopers would certainly lead to what we can imagine being a formidable big bad for Din Djarin and company.
Keep checking our sister site SFFGazette.com for Star Wars updates!
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