Should Thrawn Have Been the Big Bad of the Sequel Trilogy?

This is one of those questions that keeps coming back to me: should Grand Admiral Thrawn have been the main villain of the sequel trilogy instead of Emperor Palpatine?

The Rise of Skywalker dragged Palpatine back with almost no setup on screen. Meanwhile, sitting right there in the toolbox, you’ve got Thrawn: the guy who, in Legends, already carries the Empire into its “post-Vader” era, and in canon has a built-in exit into the Unknown Regions at the end of Rebels.

If Lucasfilm had picked him as the “Empire 2.0” face instead, a lot of the sequel era would have lined up much more naturally.

Thrawn’s Return from the Unknown Regions Would’ve Made Perfect Sense

In Legends, Thrawn’s re-emergence came from deep within the Unknown Regions, the same area where the First Order later built its forces in canon. That alone makes him a natural fit for the sequels. His campaign in Heir to the Empire was all about rebuilding Imperial strength, reorganizing scattered remnants, and striking back with precision instead of chaos.

Compare that to what we got on screen: Snoke and Hux, whose origins were never fully explained and whose motivations felt detached from the old Empire.

Thrawn, on the other hand, could’ve carried that legacy with logic and purpose. His return wouldn’t need resurrection or cloning, just his strategic mind and loyal soldiers waiting for his command. And honestly, seeing a live-action Rukh serving at his side would’ve felt far more meaningful than the wasted potential of Captain Phasma.

The funny thing is, the canon side had already started setting that up too. Star Wars Rebels doesn’t kill Thrawn; it literally throws him off the board into the same kind of space the First Order later crawls out of. In the finale, Ezra drags the Chimaera and Thrawn into hyperspace with the purrgil and they vanish into the deep Unknown Regions. As far as the Empire is concerned, their best strategist and one of their most advanced Star Destroyers are just… gone.

That disappearance happens right before the Original Trilogy era, which makes it ridiculously easy to imagine a version of the sequels where he’s the one who comes back. Instead of Snoke mysteriously rising from nowhere, you could have Thrawn returning with whatever forces he’s gathered out there, bringing experience from threats beyond the old Imperial borders and a rebuilt fleet that actually feels like it grew out of the Empire we already knew.

What the Sequels Lost by Leaving Thrawn Out

When Disney wiped the old EU, one of the biggest losses wasn’t just “these books aren’t canon anymore,” it was losing Thrawn’s role as the next big problem after Palpatine.

In the original Heir to the Empire trilogy, he isn’t some random warlord refusing to move on. He is the reason the galaxy can’t move on. Calm, methodical, and ruthless, he pulls scattered Imperial forces together, uses captured tech, plays the New Republic against itself, and shows exactly how dangerous the Empire can be when it stops relying on a single superweapon and starts relying on a brain.

For a lot of fans, that story basically functioned as the sequel trilogy for years. It felt like a logical continuation of the OT: the Empire doesn’t just vanish because the Emperor fell; it regroups under someone smarter.

The sequel films never really replaced that idea with anything as sharp. The First Order just shows up already massive. We’re told they’re a threat, but we don’t really see them earn that position. Thrawn could’ve filled that gap perfectly—not as a ghost from the past, not as a secret Sith, but as the one Imperial survivor who can still make the New Republic sweat through sheer competence.

You don’t have to make those old books canon again to borrow the core pitch: post-Palpatine Star Wars where the main villain isn’t a wizard, he’s a strategist.

Thrawn’s TIE Defender Project Would Have Made More Sense Than Another Superweapon

One of the biggest problems with the sequels was how quickly they fell back on the same idea — a new superweapon, bigger and louder than the last. The Force Awakens gave us Starkiller Base, and by The Rise of Skywalker, there were hundreds of planet-killing Star Destroyers. It made the threat feel repetitive instead of clever.

If Thrawn had been behind the First Order, we likely wouldn’t have seen another planet-destroying weapon. In both Legends and Star Wars Rebels, Thrawn invested in something far more practical: the TIE Defender project. Instead of relying on fear, his plan was built on efficiency—faster, stronger starfighters that could outmatch anything the New Republic had. It was a weapon of precision, not excess.

Bringing that concept into the sequels would’ve changed everything. The First Order wouldn’t need to blow up planets to prove its strength—it could dominate through strategy and technological superiority. That approach would’ve felt like a natural evolution of the Empire, showing how it learned from its failures instead of repeating them. And with Thrawn leading that vision, the war would’ve been fought not with another “super laser,” but with something far more dangerous: intelligence.