“I serve no Emperor. My power is for myself alone.”
'Mandalorian' Season 3 leaks reveal the scariest Jedi yet
With a recent leak all but confirming the appearance of Thrawn in live-action, this Legends character would be the perfect tie in to Thrawn and 'The Mandalorian'
by Dais JohnstonAdmiral Thrawn is the ultimate Star Wars success story. After he became an instant classic villain within Legends lore thanks to Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy, he was more or less forgotten as the movies took the forefront and the great canon divide happened, rendering his entire existence non-canonical. But thanks to Dave Filoni, Thrawn was re-canonized in Star Wars: Rebels, and hasn’t looked back since.
After a mention in The Mandalorian Season 2 and a recent leak, Thrawn is primed to make the jump to live-action — and that may come with the help of this terrifying Jedi villain.
Lost Legends is an Inverse series about the forgotten lore of our favorite stories.
Known leaker DanielRPK claims to have discovered the series description of Ahsoka Tano’s upcoming self-titled spinoff series. Ahsoka mentioned Thrawn in her appearance in The Mandalorian Season 2, and that’s reflected in this leak, claiming it will be her mission across the entire series. The description reads:
Ahsoka Tano is on the hunt for the evil Grand Admiral Thrawn in the hope it will help her locate the missing Ezra Bridger, the young Jedi that disappeared with Thrawn many years ago.
Ezra and Thrawn disappeared in the Rebels finale, which took place about nine years before the events of The Mandalorian. So, if this leak is to be believed, we’ll probably see a live-action Thrawn and a live-action Ezra by the end of the show’s run.
The presence of Thrawn in a Mandalorian-adjacent show could also explain the weirdest part of The Mandalorian so far — Moff Gideon’s weird plan to use Grogu to further cloning research.
Joruus on a cover of Heir to the Empire, the first book in the Thrawn trilogy.
In the Thrawn trilogy, Thrawn’s Jedi advisor was a “Dark Jedi” known as Joruus C’Baoth. Joruus was a clone himself, created by Palpatine from a tissue sample of Jorus C’Baoth, a Jedi master who had died some 30 years before.
In canon, Force-sensitive clones have issues with their physical form, and in Legends, it’s the same: Joruus is not all there mentally. He’s a Dark Jedi, which means that, unlike the Sith, he has no organized code. Sith Lords do seek personal ambitions, but those personal ambitions usually mesh with furthering the Sith ideologies. Dark Jedi are purely in it for themselves, which is a terrifying concept when combined with Joruus’ instability.
Could Joruus be the key to Grogu’s return to Din Djarin?
Joruus joining The Mandalorian would add an interesting counterpart to Grogu’s upbringing. Grogu has only been surrounded by Jedi his entire life, it’s what he’s used to. If he’s going to be convinced Luke’s training isn’t for him, it’ll be by another Jedi, not a Sith. This “Dark Jedi” way of life could be the key to Grogu reuniting with Mando.
An appearance from Joruus in Mandalorian Season 3 could foreshadow and directly tie into Thrawn’s inevitable arrival, too. With this lost legend finding his way into canon, Joruus could make it so the extended Mandalorian universe we saw hinted at through Ahsoka expands even further.
The Mandalorian is now streaming on Disney+.
