While season two of The Mandalorian gave fans a lot to love, one of the series’ stand-out moments was the first live-action appearance of a beloved Star Wars: The Clone Wars character: Ahsoka Tano. Played by Rosario Dawson, Tano appeared in the fifth episode of the season, ‘Chapter 13: The Jedi’, in which she and the Mandalorian work together to overthrow a corrupt city magistrate. Directed by Tano’s co-creator Dave Filoni, the episode did more than just portray the Togruta Jedi’s power; it also set the character up for her own spin-off Disney Plus series.
Indeed, in December 2020 it was announced that Filoni and Jon Favreau (the co-showrunners for The Mandalorian) were developing a new show for the character, aptly titled Ahsoka. This show would “exist” alongside The Mandalorian and another new Star Wars series (Rangers of the New Republic), intermittently interconnecting before culminating together in a “climatic story event” (i.e., creating a Disney Plus/Star Wars version of the MCU). Of course, if Star Wars is going to do their own version of the MCU, then they need their own version of Thanos: an over-arching antagonist that the characters would unite to face. As it would happen, it would appear that Tano name-dropped that very villain in The Mandalorian: Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Initially created by Timothy Zahn for the Star Wars novel Heir to the Empire, Thrawn is an Imperial military commander who takes control over the remaining Galactic Empire following the events of 1983’s Return of the Jedi. Depicted as ruthlessly intelligent and relentless tactical, Thrawn faced off against Luke Skywalker and friends many times in the novels, before making his first ‘canon’ appearance in the third season of the animated series Star Wars Rebels (which was again created by Filoni). In the series, he attempted to crush the remaining rebellion before being defeated by Jedi Ezra Bridger (Ahoksa’s close friend), although his final fate was left unknown.
Thrawn’s mention by Tano illustrates that the character is not only alive but apparently enough of a threat to capture Tano’s attention. Given the character’s intellect, power, and ruthlessness, many industry insiders are predicting that he will become the ‘big bad’ of the “climatic story event” offered by The Mandalorian, Ahsoka, and Rangers of the New Republic. Of course, then, if Thrawn is appearing, then the natural next question is who will portray this pivotal character, and one surprising name has constantly been put forward: Robert Downey Jr.
Famous for playing Tony Stark/Iron Man in the MCU, Downey is one of the biggest actors in the world. Following the moving death of Stark in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, Downey has been relatively quiet in terms of activity: he’s only been in the poorly-received Doolittle (2020) and has otherwise stuck to hands-off producing. He has the time to return to franchise storytelling. Moreover, the reasoning given by fans makes a compelling case: Downey has often talked about his friendship with Favreau (since Favreau cast him as Iron Man), appearing in many of Favreau’s smaller side-projects, like 2014’s Chef and 2019’s The Chef Show. Given this friendship, as well as Downey’s wider affinity for Disney, it’s believable that the actor could be convinced to appear in the Star Wars Universe, especially as a character as key as Thrawn.
Additionally, there are other small hints that Downey may return. Visually, Thrawn looks somewhat similar to Downey, with his quaffed hair and chiseled jawline. In addition, a semi-reliable leaker has said that Disney is working with a make-up company to develop a new face-paint to use (to give Downey Thrawn’s distinctive blue skin), as Downey is reportedly allergic to the usual formula. While this is all conjecture at this stage, the wide availability of these rumors, paired with how Disney would likely be keen to feature someone as high-profile as Downey in the series, creates a quite convincing case for Downey’s casting as Thrawn.
Of course, equally, this is likely all self-propagating wish-making: there’s no hard evidence that Downey is being chosen to play Thrawn, nor that he would even be at all interested in appearing in the small-screen role. Additionally, there is a far more likely option for Thrawn: his voice actor, Lars Mikkelsen.
The elder brother of Mads Mikkelsen, Lars is a Danish actor best known for high-profile roles in Sherlock, The Witcher, and House of Cards, as well as voicing Thrawn since 2016 on Star Wars Rebels. Given the actor’s on-screen stature and his history with the character, he seems like the firm favorite for the role, so much so that countless ‘leaker’ publications are predicting his involvement. Additionally, The Mandalorian has a history of reusing voice actors as their live-action counterparts (Katee Sackhoff, for example, voiced Mandalorian warrior Bo-Katan Kryze in The Clone Wars and then portrayed the live-action Bo-Katan on season two of The Mandalorian).
Given this competing evidence, Lars Mikkelsen seems far more likely to be playing Thrawn than Robert Downey Jr., but nothing is for certain: RDJ may yet grace the Star Wars Universe with his presence, as Thrawn or otherwise.
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