The future of Star Wars is very exciting with the recent confirmation that Lars Mikkelsen will soon bring Grand Admiral Thrawn to live-action, and the character’s creator has just given his approval. Having voiced Thrawn in the animated series Star Wars Rebels, fans had long been campaigning for Mikkelsen to continue playing the character in the live-action Ahsoka series and beyond. Now that Mikkelsen’s role has been confirmed, it looks as though Star Wars author and Thrawn’s creator Timothy Zahn feels the same way.
Featured in an interview at Paris Fan Festival 2023 and reported by CloneWeb, Timothy Zahn shared his excitement for the live-action debut of Thrawn. Having had a strong hand in the development of the character both in Legends and the official canon, Zahn spoke about Mikkelsen’s casting ahead of his live-action debut:
“I visualize the characters in terms of attitude, not so much in time as voice or appearance. Lars Mikkelsen did a wonderful job with the voice. The actor is Danish. He doesn’t really have an accent but he has a particular vocal cadence when he plays Thrawn which gives him a little alien side. He’s the perfect cast.”
It certainly seems as though Zahn agrees that the voice Mikkelsen gave Thrawn in Rebels made him the perfect choice to continue playing the role in live-action, now that Thrawn has been set up to be a major threat in the post-Return of the Jedi era just as he was in Legends.
Lars Mikkelsen Really Has Become The Perfect Thrawn
Timothy Zahn’s seal of approval is very significant. Having written The Thrawn Trilogy in the early 90s as one of the first major Star Wars authors, Zahn helped maintain fan engagement in the Star Wars franchise between the release of Return of the Jedi and The Phantom Menace. Much of that had to do with the characters he created, most notably Grand Admiral Thrawn who’s a very different villain compared to Palpatine or Darth Vader. Not only did Zahn’s work help define Legends and the Expanded Universe, he continued writing Thrawn novels after the Grand Admiral’s canonical debut in Star Wars Rebels.
Lucasfilm’s executive creative director Dave Filoni has played a significant role in bringing Thrawn back, beginning with Rebels and now setting him up to be the canonical “Heir to the Empire” once more (as teased by Ahsoka’s trailer). However, there is no Thrawn without Zahn. To that end, the appreciation Zahn has extended toward Mikkelsen is very exciting, making Thrawn’s live-action casting truly perfect and even better than it already was.
While live-action Thrawn will arrive in earnest with Ahsoka, it’s widely expected that the Heir to the Empire will be seen across multiple shows in this same era and perhaps even the recently announced Mandalorian movie with Filoni serving as director. Zahn also mentions in the interview that he’ll be serving as a consultant, so it certainly looks as though Grand Admiral Thrawn will indeed have an exciting Star Wars future with Lars Mikkelsen that continues to honor Zahn’s original vision for the character.
Source: CloneWeb
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