According to Mikey Sutton of Geekosity, Disney+ The Mandalorian is leading into an adaption of Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire series of books aka The Thrawn Trilogy. We have already had Thrawn mentioned in last season’s The Mandalorian when we met Asoka. This mention seemed to confirm the animated Rebels in continuity and possibly more.
Mikey Sutton is well known for his entertainment scoops. He has a ton of great contacts that feed him fantastic information. Unlike a lot of sites, Geekosity is normally right on the money with their scoops.
Thrawn was first introduced it the first novel of what later became known as the “Expanded Universe” with Heir to the Empire. Thrawn was the new leader of the Empire set 5 years after the destruction of the second Death Star and death of the Emperor.
As a huge Star Wars fan, I bought each book in this trilogy the day it hit the stand. I am not a fast reader but I consumed these books and was thrilled. They are amazing novels taking place in the Universe that dominated my childhood. I have always wanted to see them adapted onto the screen.
At one time, the Expanded Universe seems to be thrown out of the Disney Star Wars Universe. But with the popularity of bringing in some of the characters to the animated series of the Clone Wars and Rebels and now with The Mandalorian, it appears to be back. This is a big and important move for Disney because hard core long time fans love the Expanded Universe.
According to Mikey, this will probably not be direct and full adaptions of the books on The Mandalorian but we will see the events from a different perspective with Mando and his group of friends. But Sutton did state there is speculation that things could lead to a full length feature film trilogy adapting these books more fully.
The big question on most Expanded Universe fans is Mara Jade. Mara Jade is an amazing red headed character introduced in Heir to the Empire. She is a force using character that used to be “The Hand of the Emperor” but not a Sith. She attempts to kill Luke several times before joining the good guys and eventually falling in love and marrying Luke. She is by far my favorite Expanded Universe character. According to Mikey, Mara will appear in new Disney+ Star Wars Universe but couldn’t confirm if her character and origin will be true to the books.
(Via Geekosity)
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