Meet the new Thrawn, same as the old Thrawn
Del Rey gives us our first taste of Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn comeback and the Star Wars Celebration line-up gets bigger in today’s Force Report.
By Thrawn's early light
After making his triumphant return to the canon in the third season of Rebels, the cunning Grand Admiral Thrawn is back where he really belongs — in print, in a book written by Timothy Zahn.
USA Today has published the first excerpt from Star Wars: Thrawn, the Zahn novel announced at last year’s Star Wars Celebration that documents Thrawn’s rise through the Imperial ranks.
The excerpt is from the book’s second chapter, and depicts the first meeting between Thrawn and the Emperor. It’s an interesting confrontation, especially when Thrawn refers to “threats lurking in the Unknown Regions” that could become very important down the track.
Be warned, though — if you hate retcons that create connections between previously unconnected characters and make the galaxy feel smaller as a result, you might not be thrilled with the excerpt.
Either way, you can read it now at USA Today.
Star Wars: Thrawn is out Aprill 11 through Del Rey.
Star spotting
If you’re lucky enough to be headed to Star Wars Celebration in Orlando next month, you’ve already got plenty of reasons to be excited, including a panel with Rian Johnson and Kathleen Kennedy and the likely unveiling of the Last Jedi teaser.
Well, you can add a few more reasons to your list, because actors Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Ray Park (Darth Maul) and Daniel Logan (Young Boba Fett) have been added to the Autograph Hall.
They’ll be joined by Taylor Gray (Ezra Bridger), David Barclay (a puppeteer on Return of the Jedi), Paul Blake (Greedo), Garrick Hagon (Biggs Darklighter), Brian Herring (a puppeteer on The Force Awakens), Angus MacInnes (Dutch Vander), Clive Revill (the original Emperor), Tim Rose (Admiral Ackbar), Deep Roy (Max Rebo band member) and Jimmy Vee (the new R2-D2 in The Last Jedi).
They’ll all be signing autographs, alongside the previously announced Felicity Jones (Jyn Erso), Jeremy Bulloch (Boba Fett), and Emperor Palpatine himself, Ian McDiarmid.
This week’s episode of The Star Wars Show also confirmed that Electronic Arts will once again be present at Celebration, teasing a selection of their upcoming Star Wars games.
Star Wars Celebration will be happening at the Orange County Convention Centre in Orlando, Florida, from Thursday April 13 to Sunday April 16; tickets are available here.
Force Material is a podcast exploring the secrets and source material of Star Wars with hosts Rohan Williams and Baz McAlister. Listen and subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Stitcher, PlayerFM and Castro; stay in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; and support the show by browsing our range of shirts, hoodies, kids apparel, mugs and more at TeePublic.
