‘Star Wars: Ahsoka’ Trailer Calls Thrawn the “Heir to the Empire” and I Am Shook

Star Wars Celebration kicked off in London this morning with an avalanche of Star Wars news, including a teaser trailer for the long-awaited live-action Ahsoka series. Fans got their first glimpses of Natasha Liu Bordizzo‘s long-haired take on Mandalorian artist/rebel Sabine Wren and Mary Elizabeth Winstead‘s twi’lek pilot Hera Syndulla. There was even confirmation that Huyang, a legendary droid who trained generations of Jedi younglings, would be in the series! But the moment that warmed my Star Wars Expanded Universe-loving heart focused on the big bad of the series: Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen, we think, as he voices the character in animation and looks a lot like the character), aka the “Heir to the Empire.”

Modern Star Wars fans have already met the animated version of Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels and heard Ahsoka Tano (Rosario Dawson) namedrop him in Season 2 of The Mandalorian. However we have yet to meet him in live action. So it’s utterly delightful knowing that he will indeed show up in this new Star Wars series.

Not only that, but the fact that Ahsoka showrunner and Star Wars maestro Dave Filoni felt fit to slip in that “Heir to the Empire” line in the Ahsoka teaser is a big freaking deal to long-time Star Wars nerds like yours truly.

Here’s everything you need to know about Ahsoka baddie Grand Admiral Thrawn and why old SW nerds are orgasming over the line “Heir to the Empire”…

Who is Thrawn in the Ahsoka Teaser Trailer?

While it seems that Ray Stevenson’s new Sith Lord Baylan and Ivanna Sakhno’s mysterious acolyte — whom I’ve just learned is named “Shin Hati” — will be causing a lot of mayhem for Ahsoka, Sabine, Hera, and their friends, the big bad of the Ahsoka series seems to be Thrawn.

Grand Admiral Thrawn was first introduced onscreen in Star Wars Rebels Season 3. The blue-skinned, red-eyed Chiss was considered one of the most brilliant strategists in all the Empire. Hence, he was brought in to squash the burgeoning Rebel Alliance. (Could we see him pop up in Andor??) At the end of Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn’s ship, The Chimeara*, disappeared.

*The thing is Thrawn wasn’t the only major Star Wars character who was aboard The Chimeara when it disappeared. Force-sensitive Jedi-in-training Ezra Bridger also was on the ship. Without going into the weeds, it’s been hinted that Ezra’s journey has huge implications for the Star Wars universe and the meaning of The Force. So just keep that in your back pocket.

In The Mandalorian Season 2, we learn that Ahsoka Tano is trying to discover where Thrawn is. In the Ahsoka teaser, she straight up says she’s been hearing whispers about Thrawn’s return as “heir to the Empire.” Here’s why that one phrase is such a big deal…

Why is Thrawn the “Heir to the Empire” and Why is That Huge?

While Grand Admiral Thrawn made his onscreen debut in Star Wars Rebels, he first hit the scene in Timothy Zahn’s 1991 novel, Star Wars: Heir to the Empire. That beloved sci-fi book kicked off over a decade of Star Wars novels that continued the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo in the years after Return of the Jedi. Heir to the Empire introduced Thrawn as a formidable villain for the New Republic. His strategic mind gave him a leg up on our heroes and he had the help of one Jorus C’baoth. Well, a clone of former Jedi Jorus C’baoth. An insane clone of a dead Jedi whose goal was to lure Luke and Leia to the Dark Side.

While I don’t think we’ll get Jorus C’boath in Ahsoka, the idea of the Empire cloning powerful Jedi to twist them to the Dark Side is an idea we’ve already seen explored in both The Mandalorian and Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker. Thrawn could be the missing piece to the puzzle, explaining how the First Order rose and how exactly cloning the Emperor worked.

But the bigger, nerdier deal is that Dave Filoni is leaning into the lore of the Expanded Universe. He’s nodding to the fans who have followed Star Wars throughout the years, especially when it was uncool. He’s even offering up a lifeline to those of us who still hope to see some of our other favorite EU characters reinterpreted in Star Wars canon.

If Grand Admiral Thrawn can be the “Heir to the Empire,” could Mara Jade also make an onscreen appearance?? We’ll have to sta tuned to find out.

Ahsoka premieres on Disney+ this August.