Credit: LucasfilmWhen casting the big bad of his latest Disney+ Star Wars show, Ahsoka, Dave Filoni found that one actor was the obvious choice for the role. And with his inevitable entrance right around the corner, fans can start getting excited about his live-action portrayal.
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Ahsoka kicked off with a bang on Disney+ last month and, since then, has delivered what many consider to be some of the best Star Wars content to come out of Lucasfilm post-Disney buyout. With Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels creator Dave Filoni at the helm, interest in the galaxy far, far away seems to be at an all-time high, and the stakes are only getting higher as the show progresses.
Starring Rosario Dawson as the titular not-quite-a-Jedi, Ahsoka picks up in the aftermath of the Galactic Empire and sees the fragile New Republic at the center of a hidden threat: the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) and his Imperial Remnant, who could plunge the galaxy into chaos if they’re not stopped.
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For those who watched all four seasons of the animated Rebels series, the name “Thrawn” is a familiar one. The blue-skinned, Chiss warlord served as the show’s primary antagonist in the final two seasons, going up against the Ghost crew and the Rebellion on numerous occasions.
However, his origins can be traced back to the Star Wars Extended Universe, particularly in the Legends novels. Thrawn was first introduced in 1991 in the pages of author Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire, the beginning of a trilogy many have deemed a “must-read.”
Rebels marked Thrawn’s first canon appearance, and now, he’s poised to be the supervillain of Ahsoka and, most likely, Dave Filoni’s upcoming “Mando-Verse” crossover event. And with such an important character came an equally important question during the early stages of the development of Ahsoka: who would play Thrawn in live-action?
According to Dave Filoni, the answer was a no-brainer. In a newly released Entertainment Tonight interview from this past April’s Star Wars Celebration Europe, Filoni explained why bringing Lars Mikkelsen back as Thrawn for Ahsoka after he voiced the villain in Rebels was the only casting decision he ever considered.
The longtime Star Wars director revealed that it was initially “a very big challenge to cast” to cast Thrawn’s voice in Rebels, as readers of the EU novels each had their own perception of the character. But searching and sitting through, presumably, countless auditions, the process naturally “led [him] to Lars:”
It was a very big challenge to cast the voice. You know, how do you find a voice for a character that everybody who has read it, pictured it probably in a different, unique way? Eventually, that led me to Lars, and we were all very happy with his performance in ‘Rebels.’ Coming to [‘Ahsoka’], talking to Jon [Favreau], I was like, ‘It’s going to be very hard to beat Lars.’ Because Lars is in my head. The sound of his voice is kind of what I write to.
It makes sense that Filoni would have such a specific interpretation of Thrawn moving into Ahsoka, considering the character featured heavily in Rebels’ third and fourth seasons. Still, the showrunner and his team did their due diligence by auditioning other actors, though he “always came back to Lars.” The decision to bring Mikkelsen aboard for the live-action Disney+ show was made all the more easy thanks to the actor’s physical appearance, who, luckily for him, “looks wonderful in blue:”
I would always come back to Lars and like, ‘No it’s gotta be Lars’ and Jon’s like ‘Okay.’ But you know, you’ve got to ask yourself honestly, because this is it. You get one shot at this. But I couldn’t be happier. The minute that I’m like, ‘now it’s Lars, he’s just out there, and he looks wonderful in blue. Not everybody does, so that’s a factor and we worked on the eyes so…it’s a unique thing to bring this character to life.
Filoni certainly didn’t shy away from showering Mikkelsen’s live-action embodiment of Thrawn with praise, but only time will tell if the actor can live up to fans’ very high expectations. And he’s far from the only Rebels character who made the jump to live-action for Ahsoka.
In 2022, we learned that Natasha Liu Bordizzo would take on the role of Rebels’ Sabine Wren, a headstrong Mandalorian warrior who played a pivotal role in the downfall of the Empire. Later, during Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023, Lucasfilm confirmed that Mary Elizabeth Winstead would also join the cast as Hera Syndulla, a cunning star pilot-turned-New Republic General.
While we have yet to see him in action, Eman Esfandi was announced to be Ahsoka‘s live-action Ezra Bridger, a young Jedi and Padawan trainee of Order 66 survivor Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.) who disappeared into the unknown regions to defeat Thrawn during the events of the Rebels series finale.
Besides that, it’s hard to say if other beloved characters from the animated show will pop up in Ahsoka. However, it seems more than likely that Steve Blum’s Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios might make a cameo after his live-action debut in Season 3 of The Mandalorian.
Ultimately, it seems like we can expect the Grand Admiral to be a significant part of Lucasfilm’s future stories set during this post-Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983) period. And with such a talented actor playing the part, Star Wars fans are almost certainly in for a treat when Thrawn finally makes his long-awaited Ahsoka debut.
New episodes of Ahsoka premiere on Disney+ on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. PT.
Are you looking forward to seeing Lars Mikkelsen’s Thrawn take center stage in Ahsoka? Let us know in the comments below.