With the release of Ahsoka quickly approaching, Star Wars fans are hungry for whatever information they can get their hands on about the upcoming show. Recently, Lars Mikkelsen spoke about his reprisal of Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Ahsoka will follow Dawson's Ahsoka and Liu Bordizzo's Sabine Wren as they search for their friend Ezra Bridger, who surrendered to Thrawn at the end of Star Wars Rebels to save his friends. Though the show will likely have a broader scope than just tying up the loose ends of Star Wars Rebels, Ahsoka creator Dave Filoni has stated that the show will be connected to the events of Star Wars Rebels, especially the events that transpired in the season finale that led to Ezra's separation from his friends. Whatever else is in store for Ahsoka, Sabine, Ezra, and Hera Syndulla is anyone's guess.
While most of the cast of Ahsoka did not portray their characters in the animated show, Mikkelsen got the rare opportunity to portray Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels and Ahsoka. Most actors reprising a role would probably re-watch the show or movie where they first played the character. While appearing on Entertainment Weekly's podcast Dagobah Dispatch, Mikkelsen revealed that he took a different approach when preparing to play Thrawn in Ahsoka. During the podcast, Mikkelsen was asked, "Did you ever go back and watch old 'Rebels' episodes just to familiarize yourself with how you voiced him and played him before?” In response, Mikkelsen said, “No, I didn’t really. We needed to do something else, so I wanted to detach myself from that to create something new.”
Though it might sound unconventional, Mikkelsen's thought process makes sense. Although Star Wars Rebels and Ahsoka are canon and connected by the same storyline, Ahsoka will likely have a different tone than Star Wars Rebels. Mikkelsen's response seems to confirm that Thrawn will be different in Ahsoka than in Rebels, though it isn’t clear why.
The change in Thrawn's character could come down to the simple fact that Ahsoka is aimed at an older audience than Star Wars Rebels, which has a rating of TV-Y7. This means the show is appropriate for children seven years and older. If Ahsoka follows in The Mandalorian's footsteps - which it almost certainly will - it will most likely have a TV-14 rating, meaning the material has been deemed unsuitable for viewers under fourteen. This higher age restriction means Ahsoka can cover material that would have been too mature for a children’s show like Rebels. While something may have transpired to twist Thrawn into being a different version of the character fans saw in Rebels, this change likely came about alongside the writers’ freedom to create a crueler character aimed at older audiences.
Ahsoka premieres in August 2023 on Disney Plus.
Source: Dagobah Dispatch/Spotify