PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE commons Fans are waiting in anticipation for the new season of Star Wars Rebels to start.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE commons
Fans are waiting in anticipation for the new season of Star Wars Rebels to start.

By: Nick Hughes

With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story coming out in December and Star Wars Rebels: Season 3 premiering in two weeks there is a lot of talk amongst fans about the inclusion of a particular characters in the movie and cartoon. The character in question for Rogue One is Saw Gerrera; who is played by Forrest Whitaker in the film. The character for the Star Wars: Rebels is Grand Admiral Thrawn.

The reason that Saw has garnered so much attention is due to his origin in the Star Wars Universe. He was originally a character in the cartoon series on Cartoon Network called Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Personally, I like that the Saw is in Rogue One. He was a very compelling character in the Clone Wars and I thought his character should have been fleshed out more in the Clone Wars, but this option suits me just fine. I like how the character became a lot grittier and more extreme in his tactics in what little has been seen of him in the Rogue One trailers.

Being a part of the group that steals the Death Star plans just seems to be something that Saw would do. It was hinted at that he would become more extreme in his tactics in the Clone Wars; at least that is my interpretation of the events in the episodes he was in.

With Grand Admiral Thrawn’s inclusion in Rebels it seems that Disney hasn’t forgotten the Expanded Universe continuity. In fact, they took what could be considered the best character in that continuity. In the expanded universe, which is the books and comics published before Disney bought the rights to Star Wars from George Lucas, Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the main villains in the beloved Thrawn Trilogy. The trilogy was written by Timothy Zahn starting in 1992 with Heir to the Empire. Ultimately the Grand Admiral is defeated and killed ending with the quote, “But it was so, artistically done.”

The Grand Admiral has been revealed in a trailer for Star Wars Rebels and the internet was immediately set abuzz. What would his role be, why Thrawn, and does this mean Heir to the Empire is canon? All these questions will have to wait for Disney to answer them. The likelihood of the Thrawn trilogy being made canon is, sadly, very unlikely. This is because Disney is creating their own Star Wars Universe. That being said, I think it is very cool that they have the ability to pluck amazing characters such as Thrawn from the expanded universe. I hope this trend continues. Kyp Durron please!

All of that being said, it is a very exciting time for Star Wars and science fiction fans. We are being treated to movies we never thought would happen and there is more and more content every day for Star Wars gurus to go through. The force is really strong with Star Wars right now.