In December 2020, Lucasfilm announced that The Mandalorian will not just be a single show but part of an ongoing series of spin-offs all leading to a big climatic event. Many fans wonder just what that big climatic event can be. There are some ideas. In the season 2 episode of The Mandalorian “The Jedi,'' we see Ashoka Tano searching for none other than Grand Admiral Thrawn, who has apparently survived the events of Star Wars Rebels. Now that Thrawn has returned to his original post-Return of the Jedi era, many think that perhaps the MandoVerse, in some ways, will be a loose adaptation of Timothy Zahn’s epic Thrawn Trilogy. Our heroes may be fighting against the Grand Admiral and stopping him from restoring the Galactic Empire. How will this Thrawn campaign pan out, or will it pan out at all? Will it be a point for point remake of the original? Who will fill in certain roles? What is Thrawn’s ultimate end goal? Well, here are some speculations.

The Plot

What could the plot of this Thrawn Trilogy actually be about? While we may not have that much information on what the actual plot entails, we do have a few ideas.

From The Mandalorian we learn that the Empire is conducting research on cloning. The Empire is interested in Grogu and his midichlorian count for whatever particular reason. In “The Jedi” we discover that Thrawn is building ships for an unknown sinister purpose. Of course, we could hazard a guess that it is to either reclaim the galaxy, or conquer and create an entirely new Empire.

Then, there are the connections to Ahsoka and her search for Ezra. His fate after the events of Rebels and his connection to Thrawn are a mystery. With Ahsoka searching for both Ezra and Thrawn, it will not be a surprise for the two to appear in MandoVerse.

In the season finale of Bad Batch, we find Nala Se transported to an Imperial cloning facility. The concept art for the scene calls it “Wayland.” In the old Thrawn Trilogy, Wayland is where Thrawn finds the remnants of an Imperial cloning facility and uses it to make a clone army to replenish the Imperial forces. Perhaps this particular facility will continue its work through a certain Dr. Pershing.

Who could fill the role of important characters in the Thrawn Trilogy? The colorful cast of characters making up the series come from essentially all walks of lives.

The Jedi

We do have two candidates for the main Jedi hero who could defeat Thrawn. Our first candidate for this role is Ashoka Tano, who we see going after Thrawn in Mandalorian. As she continue the long lasting legacy started in The Clone Wars, she could fill the role of the Jedi hero who ultimately stops Thrawn and his plans to build clone army.

The other candidate is Ezra Bridger, who is last seen with Thrawn as they go off into the Unknown Regions at the end of Rebels. However, it is unknown what state Ezra is in after those events. As a Jedi and an old enemy of Thrawn he is perfect as the Jedi hero who will bring down the Grand Admiral once and for all.

Another possible Jedi heroine from the Thrawn Trilogy is Mara Jade. It is hard to say who could fill her role as an ex-Imperial turned hero in Mandalorian. Maybe they will just bring back Mara herself.

The Underworld

In the Thrawn Trilogy, the heroes of the New Republic are aided by a certain smuggler named Talon Karrde. He has risen to become one of the more powerful underworld crime bosses after the death of Jabba the Hutt. While this character has yet to return to canon, it is possible that another character with ties to the underworld could take his place, perhaps someone like Boba Fett.

Boba Fett appears to be going places in the underworld ever since his return in the season 2 of Mandalorian. He takes out Bib Fortuna and now sits upon Jabba’s throne. What this signifies is hard to say. He might wish to rule the underworld, or control a large portion of it. Perhaps Boba will once again side with the heroes in their fight against the remnants of Empire. However, he does not seem interested in working with the New Republic. When push comes to shove, perhaps Boba will reluctantly aid the heroes with his newfound powers and connections against the Empire and Thrawn.

Warriors

In the original Thrawn Trilogy, Thrawn employs a group of noble warriors known as the Noghri, who has sworn allegiance to him because of their blood oath to the Empire. Later on, his Noghri bodyguard Rukh will turn on him the moment he learns the Empire had been lying to the Noghri in order to keep them in slavery. While it may not go down exactly the same way in the current canon, we already have a group of noble warriors in the MandoVerse: the Mandalorians. We do not know the exact role the Mandalorian warriors will play in the overall fight against Thrawn. They already have a grudge against the Empire. They may fight against Thrawn when they discover his connection to some of the atrocities committed by the Empire. On the other hand, they may aid him if his honeyed words promise to help them return to their former glory.

The Crazy Clone Jedi

Lastly, we cannot forget one of the more famous characters in the Thrawn Trilogy. That man is Joruus C’baoth, the crazed clone of Jedi Master Jorus C’baoth. Who else can fill this role than another Force-sensitive clone? A certain Supreme Leader from the sequel trilogy certainly fits the bill.

Perhaps Thrawn will need a Force user to aid him in his designs. Snoke may approach Thrawn, unbeknownst to the Grand Admiral, as a test sent by Palpatine to see if he is worthy to return to his fold, or if he has become a threat that needs to be eliminated. In some ways, Snoke will be Palaptine’s eyes and ears to get a sense of what is going on in the galaxy while the Dark Lord plans his ultimate return on Exegol.

A Mando-Thrawn Trilogy

In the end, all of this is pure speculation. Who knows what direction the MandoVerse will go, be it a Thrawn Trilogy remake or some other thing. Our heroes could be fighting the Yuzhong Vong for all we know.

Regardless, the future of Star Wars looks bright and very artistically done.

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How The MandoVerse Could Adapt The ‘Thrawn Trilogy’