Dave Filoni Says Grand Admiral Thrawn Will Be a Straight-Up Villain in the New Republic Era; ‘Ahsoka’ Cast on the Themes of Found Family and More
As part of Empire Magazine’s 20-page coverage of the Star Wars franchise in their Summer 2023 issue, Dave Filoni and her Ahsoka cast shared a few words about the upcoming series, including some of the challenges of bringing Grand Admiral Thrawn into live-action, and Filoni’s trepidations about finally directing a Star Wars film for the big screen. We’ve already highlighted some of the quotes in the story from Kathleen Kennedy, and now it’s time to focus on Ahsoka (via r/StarWarsLeaks).
As we know, Lars Mikkelsen is reprising the role of Grand Admiral Thrawn in the upcoming Ahsoka series, and likely beyond, after voicing him for two seasons on Star Wars: Rebels. The character was first created by Timothy Zahn for the Heir to the Empire novels, something Dave Filoni keeps in mind when writing for the Disney Plus series. He also added how he’s already been planting the seeds for the character for years across his work; the latest instance of this was including Tantiss in The Bad Batch season 2.
And even though the new Thrawn canon novels painted him as a misunderstood anti-hero, Filoni says that he will be the straight-up bad guy in his story, akin to the depiction in Rebels:
“[He is definitely the bad guy in the New Republic era], in my eyes. When Timothy Zahn wrote Heir To The Empire, Thrawn became this very iconic villain, because he was different than anything we’d seen before. He wasn’t another helmet-wearing, lightsaber-wielding bad guy, you know? There’s a lot of pull to make characters that are like Vader, because it is so iconic.
But the boldness that Tim had was to make somebody that wasn’t like that, that didn’t have those abilities, but could fight in a different way. In the words Star Wars, the ‘war’ part of it — him being a Grand Admiral, a leader, a military strategist, a Moriarty archetype, someone that will out-think you, out-strategise you — that really resonated. He’s a critical player in this time period. We’re fortunate to have that character, and fortunate to have Lars [Mikkelsen] playing him.”
Empire also asked Dave Filoni about his reaction when Kathleen Kennedy asked him to direct a film; it was a very emotional moment for him, having a producer on Kennedy’s level noticing him and saying he should be the one:
“I don’t assume anything. I don’t think that I deserve anything. Kathy, upon seeing my work in the live-action realm, was like, ‘Dave, we have to have you do a movie.’ My goodness, a person like that telling you that is an amazing thing. But I always look at myself and say, ‘Well, am I ready to do that?’ I appreciate that, and I think she would know. But it’s got to be the right story. And it’s got to be the right group of people backing you. A big reason why I felt confident going into live-action at all was because Kathy was here. She’s been a very big supporter of me all along the way. So it’s a great moment, but I immediately think of the responsibility. I immediately think of the job that that’s going to entail, and I want to make sure I can do a good job.”
But he still has his feet on the ground, not only because of humility, but because he’s aware that this is still George Lucas’ galaxy, they just get to borrow it for a moment:
“The first time I ever remember, as a kid, noting the term ‘Directed by’ was ‘Directed by George Lucas’. That’s the thing I never lose sight of — this is George’s galaxy. I just tried to learn as much about it, so I can execute on it faithfully, and then hopefully expand and add new things with everybody else. What a fun galaxy it is.”
As the cast described it, Ahsoka will be all about the found family themes that run within the Ghost crew. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who plays Hera Syndulla in the new series, described this as the “throughline of the show”:
“It’s the throughline [of the show]. The strength that they need to get through what they’re facing [requires them] to come back together and redefine that family.”
Ahsoka Tano herself, Rosario Dawson, also commented on this, adding that what makes it special is that nobody is above anyone else:
“I like that there isn’t any structure to this. There’s no boss over them. There’s no-one telling them that they have to do this. This is a carryover from Rebels — these are people who are true believers, who have put themselves on the line, sacrificed everything to be together, and [who] create this chosen family on this mission that they’ve decided they need to be on. That makes it very special.”
And yet, Dawson also had to say that the series will be for everyone, even those who haven’t seen Rebels. It’s just that the fans of the animated series will feel the weight a bit more:
“That immediate connection between them is such a strength, because you trust that there’s a history there. You feel it. For the ones who have been anticipating this story to go on for a long time, they’re going to feel really happy.”
Empire also revealed that the Loth-cat we saw in the trailer is the latest animatronic creation from the Legacy team, and the cast couldn’t be more excited about having him on set.
Ahsoka is targeting an August release date. Dave Filoni wrote all eight episodes and directed more than one of them. The directing roster also includes Peter Ramsey (Into the Spider-Verse & The Mandalorian season 3), Steph Green (The Book of Boba Fett), Rick Famuyiwa (The Mandalorian), Jennifer Getzinger (Mad Men), and Geeta Patel (House of the Dragon episode 8).
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.
