Star Wars Celebration Made Grand Admiral Thrawn Actor Cry

Star Wars: Ahsoka star Lars Mikkelsen was genuinely moved by the fans’ reaction at Star Wars Celebration this year. Entertainment Weekly’s Dagobah Dispatch podcast caught up with the Thrawn actor to discuss his live-action debut as the Rebels favorite. In his comments, he mentions holding back tears at the sight of all those fans cheering on Star Wars: Ahsoka. Diana Lee Inosanto, Ivanna Sakhno and Ray Stevenson all joined as guests. It was absolutely clear that they felt the love in that room. Star Wars Celebration tends to be a bit of an ecstatic bunch anyway. But, things ratcheted up quickly once it became clear that Star Wars Rebels would be getting a lot of live-action lovet on the new Disney+ series. Check out what he had to say right here.

“It was a very emotional moment that I didn’t expect to have,” Mikkelsen recalled. “But I think there’s a lot of love to be taken care of from the audience. And I felt enormous gratitude. It was amazing. Never tried anything like that.”

“I had a hard time actually keeping my tears back,” he shared. “I was really tearing up. I didn’t expect that.”

Thrawn’s  Big Return Shocked Star Wars Celebration

During Star Wars Celebration, Comicbook.com’s Brandon Davis talked to Lars Mikkelsen about keeping Thrawn a secret. Tons of fans were shocked to see the character in the Ahsoka trailer and are completely energized. The return definitely injected some extra hype into Ahsoka‘s rollout.

“It was one and a half years ago. I’ve known for quite a while now and it’s such a relief that I can actually tell people now because everybody’s been asking me. I’ve just been lying and lying,” Mikkelsen explained. “I don’t like lying.”

After the big secret got out, Mikkelsen also shared his excitement about being back in this role during the accompanying panel at Star Wars Celebration.

“We met through Skype,” Mikkelsen said of plotting out this return with Ahsoka showrunner Dave Filoni, who has a shared history on the animated Star Wars shows. “At some point, finishing up that series, David asked me, ‘Have you ever been to LA?’ I went, ‘No, no.’ ‘We’re gonna make that happen,’ he said…I’ve never been on a set with so much passion, I must say. People are so passionate about bringing this to life for you guys.”

Here’s how Lucasfilm describes the series: “Fan-favorite Star Wars hero Ahsoka Tano returns in the brand new series on Disney+. Rosario Dawson stars in Star Wars: Ahsoka, premiering in August on the streamer. The series picks up after the events of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, in which we saw the former Jedi searching for Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and helping Luke Skywalker train Grogu. Ahsoka will be joined on her new mission alongside longtime allies Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) as they attempt to track down Thrawn, who was last seen disappearing to the far reaches of space after a confrontation with Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi). Star Wars: Ahsoka is the latest live-action series from Lucasfilm’s creative duo of Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni.”

Are you excited to have Thrawn back? Let us know down in the comments!