One of the bigger reveals out of Star Wars Celebration this summer was the news that the character of Thrawn is coming to Star Wars Rebels. Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the most popular characters from the Star Wars Expanded Universe, making his debut in the 1991 novel Heir to the Empire. However, when George Lucas stepped down from Lucasfilm and new president Kathleen Kennedy set about creating a cohesive universe that spanned films, TV series, and books, the Expanded Universe was declared non-canon and henceforth deemed Star Wars Legends, with the new Lucasfilm starting from scratch and building a new canon outside of the feature films. That certainly ruffled some feathers, and so it was with great enthusiasm that the news of Thrawn’s reintroduction into Star Wars canon was met.

A new Star Wars Rebels Season 3 promo now further teases Thrawn’s arrival, and it’ll be interesting to see how the Imperial strategist fits into the world of Rebels. The TV series—which ranges from enjoyable to downright great—takes place in the five years before the events of A New Hope, revolving around the growing rebellion. The majority of the previous Expanded Universe stories focused on Thrawn after the events of Return of the Jedi, where he took control of the Galactic Empire’s remaining forces, so fans of the EU are no doubt mighty curious to see how the character differs in this new iteration.

Lars Mikkelsen (Headhunter, Sherlock) voices Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels, and you can get a taste of his voice performance in the promo below. Star Wars Rebels Season 3 premieres on Disney XD on September 24th.

For more on Star Wars Rebels Season 3, peruse our recent coverage in the links below:

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Image via Lucasfilm
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Image via Lucasfilm

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