Rebels fans will have noticed the latest name drop in The Mandalorian, but it won’t come to fruition for several years yet.
Warning: spoilers ahead for the latest episode of The Mandalorian.
While discussing their plans to rebuild the Empire, the Shadow Council made mention of Thrawn’s return. If you’re a Rebels watcher, you’ll already know that Grand Admiral Thrawn disappeared with young Jedi Ezra Bridger. Both were spotted in the Ahsoka trailer, suggesting that Thrawn will be the Big Bad of the live-action show, premiering in August.
However, in an interview at Star Wars Celebration Europe, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy implied that the mention of Thrawn and the intersection of the Disney+ shows in general is building to a bigger moment.
“That’s really building toward what Dave’s doing in the feature space,” Kennedy said. “Very intentionally.”
As such, while it’s clear that Thrawn will appear in Ahsoka, it’s possible that the final showdown with him won’t come until Dave Filoni’s feature film – which is in itself still a decent while away.
“We’re pretty far along [with the film],” Kennedy added. “These are things, as you can imagine, certainly looking at what Dave’s been doing with Ahsoka, that’ll be at least six, seven years building to what it is we’re going to be doing in a movie.”
Featured image: Disney/Lucasfilm