Explaining Grand Admiral Thrawn, the mystery villain of The Mandalorian season 2 - digitalspy.com

The Mandalorian season 2 episode 5 spoilers follow.

If you thought the latest Baby Yoda reveal wasn't cool enough, The Mandalorian just introduced one of the best villains in Star Wars history. No, not Darth Vader. We're talking about Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Long after Vader threw Palpatine down a reactor shaft in Return of the Jedi, Thrawn became the greatest threat to the New Republic, and in particular, Luke and Leia Skywalker. But despite the 30-year-long history of Thrawn, you might not have heard of him as he's mostly been a part of the Star Wars books and Star Wars: Rebels.

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Understandably, reading three trilogies of books as well as four seasons of an animated show, all before the end of The Mandalorian season two, sounds like a daunting task. So don't worry. Instead, we'll provide you with a primer on all things Thrawn, including his origin, many defeats, and how he fits into the world of The Mandalorian. So, pledge your allegiance to the Empire and let's get started.

Saving the Star Wars expanded universe

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In the early 1990s, way before the prequels or even the Special Editions, Star Wars was going through a tough time. The last movie came out nearly a decade earlier, and the future of the franchise looked uncertain. That is, until Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire book came out, kickstarting what would become known as the Thrawn Trilogy.

These books were set five years after the events of Return of the Jedi, where the New Republic was finishing off the last remnants of the Empire. Leia and Han are expecting twins, and Luke is training the new generation of Jedi. In comes Thrawn, real name Mitth'raw'nuruodo, a Chiss alien admiral and last of the 12 Grand Admirals of the Empire. Unlike Vader, Grand Moff Tarkin, or even the Emperor, Thrawn did not rule through fear, but led a very loyal army that willingly followed his tactical genius.

The trilogy became an instant success, reaching the New York Times Best Seller list, and is now credited with reviving fan interest in Star Wars before the prequels went into production. Even after Thrawn was killed off at the end of the trilogy, he was seemingly resurrected in the 1997 book Specter of the Past for one last battle.

Though most elements and characters from the expanded universe were discarded when Disney acquired Lucasfilm, some elements found their way into the sequel trilogy. For example, The Imperial Remnant led by Thrawn bears resemblance to the First Order in The Force Awakens, and then there's Ben Solo too. But, perhaps the biggest character to be brought back into the new canon was Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Becoming An Animated Threat in Rebels

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There had been rumours and reports about Lucasfilm wanting to use Thrawn in stories set during the prequels for years, but it was Dave Filoni who finally brought Thrawn back to the main Star Wars canon in season three of Rebels.

Voiced by Sherlock's Lars Mikkelsen, the animated Thrawn is a younger version than the one previously seen in the books. Tasked with taking out the Rebel cell on the planet of Lothal, this Thrawn was unlike any other Star Wars villain. Polite to a fault – and dare we say likeable? – Thrawn was as determined to destroy the Rebels as he was obsessed with good art, particularly Mandalorian art.

Thrawn was a far bigger threat than anything the Rebels had faced to that point. He was adept in hand-to-hand combat, capable of anticipating every move our heroes made, and even discovering their spy on the Empire rather quickly. In fact, it was Thrawn's failed attack on Senator Mon Mothma that directly led to the formation of the Rebel Alliance.

Then, a later battle on the planet Atollon in which Thrawn destroyed the Rebel headquarters made the Rebel Alliance realise that they weren't ready for open war against the Empire, which we saw in Rogue One when the leadership refused to help Jyn Erso raid Scarif to find the Death Star plans.

Thrawn was indeed a formidable opponent, so how was he defeated? Well, in a bit of Star Wars magic, a young Jedi called Ezra Bridger recruits the help of giant space-whales called Purrgil and jumps into hyperspace with them wrapped round Thrawn's ship – none of them to be seen again.

These creatures are able to travel through hyperspace at will, and since they don't emit signals that can be picked up by radar, no one was able to see where they went. In the season finale of Rebels, which picks up after the events of Return of the Jedi, we see Ahsoka Tano still looking for Ezra.

A Mandalorian Threat

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This brings us to The Mandalorian. In the latest episode, former Jedi Ahsoka Tano seems determined to find Grand Admiral Thrawn, hinting that the villainous Chiss survived his hyperspace travel decades earlier. If Thrawn survived and is out there, it's very likely that the show is building him up to be the secret mastermind behind Moff Gideon's plans.

Although appearances from Bo-Katan and now Ahsoka, plus mention of Thrawn, heavily imply a more Rebels-centric future for the show, this is still The Mandalorian.

As it turns out, Thrawn does have some history with the people of Mandalore. In Rebels, Thrawn was in charge of suppressing an uprising led by Sabine Wren (who is also rumoured to appear in the show) and Bo-Katan herself. Acting on the Emperor's behalf, Thrawn was charged with procuring a weapon designed by Wren that could target the Beskar metal in Mandalorian armour.

We know that some time between the events of Rebels and The Mandalorian, the Empire purged Mandalore and eliminated most Mandalorians, so it is entirely possible that Thrawn was somehow involved.

But wait, there's more! In the 2017 canon novel Star Wars: Aftermath: Empire's End, Thrawn is mentioned as the source of the Empire's information about the infamous Unknown Regions of the galaxy. Why is this important? Because travelling to this region was a crucial part of Palpatine's contingency plan, as the planet Exegol where he cloned himself is in this region, and it was here that The First Order was born.

In any case, not only did we win a new hero in the form of Ahsoka this episode, but the mere mention of Thrawn hints at a far bigger villain in the future of The Mandalorian.

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The Mandalorian season 1 is streaming now on Disney+. The first episode of season 2 launched globally on October 30, and new episodes follow every Friday.

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