Lars Mikkelsen Praises Dave Filoni’s Writing on ‘Ahsoka’, Hints It Could Have a Big Story Reveal at the End; Timothy Zahn Shares His Thoughts on the Casting
During the Ahsoka panel at Star Wars Celebration it was revealed that Lars Mikkelsen would be returning as Grand Admiral Thrawn in his live-action incarnation in the upcoming series. The people in the room also had the chance to see an extended version of the trailer that had been released online the day before, which featured an additional shot of Mikkelsen as the beloved Chiss.
Collider reached out to the actor right after the panel and asked him about Dave Filoni’s writing for the series, which he described as “very strong” before hinting that there might be a twist or a reveal coming at the very end of the show:
“His writing is very good, it’s very strong. All characters have their own… You will probably not know, totally, know what it’s all about until the last scene. And I like that in writing, that you take you the audience so seriously that we drag it right to the last moment to reveal what the whole thing was about.”
We know from Star Wars: Rebels and the many novels that Timothy Zahn has written about the character that he is typically the smartest guy in the room. That is his superpower, which puts him well ahead of practically any enemy on the battlefield. Mikkelsen described what it is like for him to play a character like that:
“That’s what you want as an actor. You don’t want to reveal everything, you want to keep your secrets, and when it’s within the script it’s the best because it’s effortless in that sense. You only play the moment then, because the story writing is so good that it will tell it for you.”
His co-star Ray Stevenson (Baylan Skoll) revealed that it will be an eight-episode season. When Mikkelsen asked which one of those is his favorite, he said he couldn’t say without giving something away — while this isn’t much, it’s possible he can’t reveal at which point he will appear in the narrative yet.
Thrawn was created by Zahn in the 90s as the main antagonist of a trilogy of novels that acted as the sequel story to Return of the Jedi. The author, who was consulted by Filoni when writing Ahsoka, recently praised the casting of Mikkelsen as the character at the Paris Fan Fest, where he said (via Screen Rant):
“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.”
Ahsoka is targeting an August release date on Disney Plus. An “okay” for the second season will reportedly depend on how well the first one performs on the platform. Dave Filoni, who wrote all the scripts and is directing multiple episodes, was also announced during the convention to be directing a theatrical feature film that will culminate the story of the show as well as that of The Mandalorian and other timeline-adjacent series. It is reportedly targeting a 2026 release date.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
