All roads in the Mandoverse are leading to Grand Admiral Thrawn, and his appearance is imminent.
But as we’ve seen so far in The Mandalorian, the New Republic doesn’t seem to think much of any lurking threat. But there is someone who does, as Ahsoka Tano knows that Thrawn is not one to take lightly. “She recognizes a threat that no other people are seeing,” star Rosario Dawson said at Star Wars Celebration recently. “This is not someone to take lightly; these foes are not easily dismissed.”
The trailer for the series released at Celebration hints at the same thing, as we hear Ahsoka saying, “Something’s coming. Something dark. I sense it”, while later she says, “Things have changed. I started hearing whispers, about Thrawn’s return. As heir to the Empire.” So it’s very clear that Ahsoka takes this threat very seriously, but the question is whether she’ll be able to convince others about it.
We’ve seen in The Mandalorian how Carson Teva is one of the few who takes these threats seriously, even though he doesn’t know about Thrawn. Teva knows that there’s something building out there with these Imperial remnants, and he suspects that it’s bigger than they think. He’s tried to get others in the New Republic to take it seriously, but they are overwhelmed by the other responsibilities of governing that they overlook these matters. It’s setting things up for Thrawn’s return, and we learned recently in The Mandalorian that it’s precisely according to plan, as the Shadow Council intentionally operates as different groups to mask their true strength.
Sooner or later, the New Republic will have to recognize the threat, but by that time, Thrawn might be back and the Imperial remnants ready to strike. In the meantime, there are only a few who stand in the way, and one of them is Ahsoka. We’ll get to see that in the upcoming Ahsoka series, which premieres in August on Disney+.
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