He was as brilliant as he was brutal, and he gave life to the bridge of an Imperial starship. He was a well-rounded, influential and fascinating villain that didn’t rely on the Force to get ahead. First introduced in the 1991 best-seller Heir To The Empire, written by prolific science fiction author Timothy Zahn, the blue-skinned alien officer brought something to Star Wars that had never existed before. Eventually.īut Thrawn was a different story. So I mourned for the gunslinging smuggler Talon Karrde, I poured one out for the Emperor’s Hand, Mara Jade, and I made peace with the idea of letting J.J. Turns out that when you’re a multi-billion dollar entertainment company you get to do what you want. George Lucas had ceded control of the Star Wars universe post- Return of the Jedi, and by the gods that was just something Disney was going to have to live with.
