Star Wars Rebels finally brought Grand Admiral Thrawn into the current Disney-era canon, establishing the Chiss Imperial as a villain every bit as formidable as Darth Vader. Tie-in novels have since expanded on the villain's backstory, revealing exactly how many layers the mastermind also known as Mitth'raw'nuruodo has to him.
We're hoping to see at least some of those peeled back in Ahsoka later this month, especially as Thrawn is being billed as "Heir to the Empire." That series marks the character's live-action debut and will reveal what became of Thrawn after he and Ezra Bridger were pulled into Hyperspace by the mysterious Purrgil.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly (via SFFGazette.com), actor Lars Mikkelsen - who reprises his Rebels role - dropped some hints about what fans can expect from the returning villain.
"He's brutal to a certain point, but he's not stupid," the actor teases. "He utilizes the creativity around him, and I like that. He doesn't just kill people off for the fun of it. He's sort of seven pages ahead of everybody else."
Not a lot has changed then, and Mikkelsen would go on to reveal how it came to that he's returned to this role in live-action.
Reflecting on a conversation with Dave Filoni in 2020 when he wrapped recording his final Rebels episode as Thrawn, he remembers the filmmaker asking him if he'd ever visited Los Angeles. When he responded with no, Filoni responded by saying, "Well, let's see if we can make that happen."
"I didn't really understand what he meant by that," Mikkelsen admits with a laugh. "But then, about a year and a half after, he phoned me up, and I was game."
"I mean, I'm not the only one with various colors," he says of the physical transformation required to become Thrawn. "There's green and orange. Everybody goes through it. I really wanted to see it in the camera. But it worked. And I was quite amazed."
Ahsoka is set to be released on Disney+ with a two-part premiere on August 23.