Thrawn Gets His Own Comic Adaptation Next Year
07/27/2017 04:33 pm EDT
In the early '90s, Star Wars fans had no promise of new films or TV series on the horizon, which meant turning to Expanded Universe novels to get new adventures about the galaxy far, far away. These books helped introduce Grand Admiral Thrawn, who quickly became a fan-favorite character with a trilogy of Timothy Zahn-written novels, before being revived to be featured in Star Wars Rebels. Zahn recently followed up on the character with the novel Thrawn, which Marvel announced it would be adapting into a comic book series set for release next year.
Jody Houser will be adapting Zahn's novel, previously having adapted Rogue One: A Star Wars Story for Marvel, while Luke Ross will illustrate the series, having previously provided art for Captain America and Spider-Man.
Marvel Comics editor Heather Antos revealed to The Verge that Thrawn is the character she has been most passionate about adapting for the comics ever since Marvel announced they'd be making new Star Wars comics.
"I've always loved a good villain," she explained. "Ever since I read his first appearance in Zahn's Heir to the Empire, I've become infatuated with the Star Wars Universe's most famous military tactician."
The villain's biggest strengths are being a master tactician, which Antos describes, "He's 10 steps ahead of you. You've been defeated before you even think to pull out your blaster."
When Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012, one directive was to form the Lucasfilm Story Group, which essentially erased any stories from the official canon that weren't from the live-action films or animated series. It also insured one singular, unified canon for all future books, comics, video games, and animated series. This meant Thrawn no longer existed in the world of Star Wars, until Dave Filoni helped resurrect him for Star Wars Rebels.
Thrawn will return to Star Wars Rebels for the show's fourth and final season this fall.
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This animated entry in the "Star Wars" franchise fills the gap between the events of "Episode III" and "Episode IV." Imperial forces occupy a remote planet and are ruling -- and ruining -- its inhabitants' lives with an iron fist. A clever, disparate crew aboard the starship Ghost takes a stand against the Empire, facing new villains and colorful adversaries. The rebels on the Ghost include leader Kanan, ace pilot Hera, feisty heroine Sabine, tough guy Zeb and 14-year-old con artist Ezra.
Star Wars Rebels airs Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD, and follows the adventures of Hera (Vanessa Marshall), Sabine (Tiya Sircar), Zeb (Steve Blum), and the Jedi Kanan (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) and Ezra (Taylor Gray), a small crew that's finding their way in the nascent Rebel Alliance a few years before the events of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope.
Executive produced by Simon Kinberg and Dave Filoni, the in-canon series helps to connect the worlds of the films and the previous animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, with guest appearances so far by characters like Lando Calrissian, Ahsoka Tano, Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Leia Organa, Wedge Antilles, and more.
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