With Grand iral Thrawn being set up by Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau to be the overarching antagonist of the New Republic era, perhaps he can finally justify Lucas’ original title, The Clone Wars brought us large-scale war in animation, Thrawn will be the perfect vehicle not only for a convincing antagonist but to bring all-out galactic warfare to live-action.
Grand iral Thrawn was first brought to the small screen by Ahsoka will replace Luke Skywalker in Thrawn's story this time around, as based on recent storylines, it would appear that Ahsoka is in pursuit. While in Legends continuity, Luke remained the franchise's main protagonist against Thrawn, Disney's modern canon has set Ahsoka up for this role, and with Thrawn, no doubt consolidating his power base in the background of the Disney+ shows, he’s sure to jump into the foreground sooner rather than later.
Thrawn sets himself apart from the rest of Star Wars’ roster of villains for a number of reasons. Perhaps most notably are his personal motivations—unlike characters such as Darth Sidious, it is most definitely not evil, the Sith, nor pure conquest that drives him. Judging from the current attempts by to adapt Timothy Zahn's original Thrawn trilogy, Thrawn is actually motivated by his desire to save the galaxy, or at least prepare it for a galaxy-wide invasion. In Legends, this was the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong, and in the new canon, they are replaced by the more mysterious but just as deadly Grysks. This in and of itself sets up a potentially massive galactic conflict in the future of Star Wars, and if Legends is anything to go by, one that will dwarf the Clone Wars. In essence, Thrawn is the perfect opportunity to explore a corner of Star Wars that has ironically been shoved to the side: all-out warfare.
As well as setting up future conflicts, Thrawn is also a unique nemesis for Star Wars’ protagonists to come up against. Despite being able to handle himself in a fight, Thrawn is the Empire’s best Commander, and his strengths are his cunning and intellect. Unable to be hunted down and defeated in a one-on-one duel, the very nature of Thrawn’s character forces the New Republic and the rest of Thrawn’s foes to muster their best and engage in all-out warfare. With the Emperor gone and his Empire seemingly divided between warlords, such as Moff Gideon, it is likely Thrawn’s power over resource management and wider decision-making will no longer be hindered by political intrigue and gambled wonder weapons, such as the Death Star.
In other words, Thrawn is sure to be three steps ahead of Star Wars’ heroes, future beyond Palpatine’s shadow. Thrawn is the perfect opportunity to bring the large-scale warfare of the Clone Wars era to live-action, giving a breath of fresh air from evil and mystical villains all while providing a more-than detrimental threat to the protagonists. His ultimately good intentions, to save the galaxy, only reinforce the strength of his presence, forcing the audience to contemplate whether or not his ends are justified by his means, and establishing that not everything is clear-cut good or bad.
Having been mentioned in The Mandalorian it is likely the wait won’t be long to find out what Thrawn is up to. Being a heavily nuanced character, whenever he appears he’s sure to have an impact. With Thrawn being an impending challenge for the heroes, he’s sure to bring all-out war, and can finally justify George Lucas’ original title for Star Wars.
