Grand Admiral Thrawn Re-Introduced In Star Wars: Rebels Season 3 Trailer

Star Wars Celebration continues in London and with it comes a new trailer for Star Wars: Rebels season 3. It seems the time frame has skipped forward a bit and two characters will appear. One is Wedge Antilles. The other is Grand Admiral Thrawn who is a master tactician and a real threat to the rebels. From the Extended Universe, Thrawn was introduced in the 1991 novel Heir To The Empire that took place right after Return of the Jedi. Over the course of the three novels now called The Thrawn Trilogy, the character nearly destroyed the New Republic and re-energize the Empire. For all intents and purposes this trilogy created the Extended Universe for Star Wars and reintroduced the franchise to a new generation of fans.

When people (like me) complain about the loss of the EU and the refusal of Disney to allow new stories to be told in the "Legends" continuity (why? would love a real explanation), it is because of novels like the Thrawn trilogy. I remained a fan of Star Wars because of the EU and the 1990s to 2014ish novels. Not because of the movies. So while seeing Thrawn being re-introduced into canon is great, its also a constant reminder of Disney's bizarre policy of blocking off the EU and allowing no one to play in that sandbox again.

Below is the trailer and Bleeding Cool has the summary of the Rebels Panel.