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:

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 08: (L-R) Rosario Dawson, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Lars Mikkelson, and Diana Lee Inosanto onstage during the Ahsoka panel at the Star Wars Celebration 2023 in London at ExCel on April 08, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Kate Green/Getty Images for Disney)



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:

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:

Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano in Lucasfilm’s Ahsoka, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



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':

Ahsoka Tano herself, Rosario Dawson, also commented on this, adding that what makes it special is that nobody is above anyone else:

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:

Sabine (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) in Lucasfilm’s Ahsoka, exclusively on Disney+. ©2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.



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).



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