Timothy Zahn Discusses Bringing Thrawn Back, the Chiss Ascendancy, the Unknown Regions, and More!

At Dragon Con this year I was lucky enough to have a one on one interview with Timothy Zahn, a man that we as Star Wars fans owe so much to! We talked about bringing Thrawn back to canon, the character's future, what's looming in the Unknown Regions, and so much more!
Keep up with Tim here: / timothyzahn
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[@StarWarsExplained]

The audio for this and a few other interviews that are coming out this week got messed up. We cleaned it up as best we could, but it's still a little off, so sorry about that! But interviewing Tim was absolutely one of the highlights of working on this channel so far. He was such a nice guy, and happily continued to talk about Star Wars with me after the camera was off. Definitely one of those times where meeting your heroes didn't disappoint!

[@Spacedock]

You lucky bugger. :) If i'd had this chance i'd be trying to find out what class the two 'Imperial Light Frigates' at the Battle of Batonn were supposed to be - that's been irritating me all year. Good thing it was you though, so you could ask questions that wouldn't bore him to tears lol.

[@nuttah310]

Where did you get that shirt?

[@joelmcfly5172]

Star Wars Explained I am so jealous!

[@ariesstorm9577]

Wow what an honour to sit and interview such an esteemed Star Wars author. Who's next on your interview list? James Luceno? If you wouldn't mind, could you let him know we're still waiting on a Count Dooku novel from him. Funnily enough I was thinking about the original Thrawn trilogy on my way home from work, I get home and find an interview with Timothy Zahn in my notifications. Coincidence? The Force works in mysterious ways.

[@ThePCguy17]

What's with the freeze frame at 9:43? That's not even a secret image, that trailer is out there and all over the place by now!

[@luisalvarado945]

17:32 Your eyes lit up when he mentioned X-Wing 😂😂😂😂

[@Guns1313]

i was just gonna say that to.tims books and the x-wing series are some of the best legends books

[@TheOfficeIsBananas]

the amazing zoom in edit!! 😂

[@emperorpalpatine66]

That smile

[@AnakinSkyobiliviator]

"The more people put in familiar faces, the smaller the galaxy gets." _Thank you!_ At least there's somebody that understands that!

[@best_Dave_ever]

after Mandalorian season 2 "why do these people continue to run into eachother"

[@moribundus959]

A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one...

[@therevyfilms246]

For sure

[@Dynomafia139]

Unexpected, but not unwelcome

[@infinitesheldon5710]

The look on your face the moment Zahn said X-Wing was pure gold.

[@motionpablo]

Mr Zahn’s dream of Thrawn coming to a TV series is about to become true!!

[@sdimerc5571]

Thanks for doing this interview. I met Timothy Zahn 10 years ago at a small convention on North Carolina. Such a nice, genuine person, taking time to speak to anyone who came to his desk. One of the best experiences in my life. :-)

[@palestblue]

Great interview, thank you so much! Zahn seems like such a nice and genuine person ☺️

[@SteveSpikes]

Wonderful job, Alex. I had the honor and pleasure of meeting Mr. Zahn at a convention in Indianapolis. Since I read the novel while listening to the audio book, I mentioned to him how the narrator, Marc Thompson, does Thrawn almost as well as Lars Mikkelson. And how I enjoyed the beginning of each chapter is a introspective of the chapter, and how Thrawn analyzes everyone. For anyone thinking of reading the novel, I would suggest getting the audio book.

[@Erik-uj8ed]

I just started doing that with the newest Thrawn book and I completely agree, it makes it so much better. I am now planning on rereading the Thrawn trilogy in the same way as well.

[@Ampwich]

I'm really glad they had the same guy come back to write more for Thrawn

[@griffinelbaroudi9846]

May the force be with him, always.

[@jakeollyb]

I've got to say, as a fan of Star Wars since I was a very small child, Darth Maul was always my favourite character. After discovering a handful of Legends stories featuring Thrawn and then seeing him in Season 3 of 'Rebels' and reading Zahn's new book, I reckon he's dethroned Maul as my new number 1. I desperately hope he's not killed off in 'Rebels' season 4; I reckon there's a lot more that can be done in the new Canon with him, and I can't wait for 'Thrawn: Alliances' next year!

[@robert47743]

Well he’s not dead

[@cameronpearce5943]

I'd love to see Vong in Cannon. Also some of those other weird things like the cube made of gold or the infectious hive mind thing. Hech, even zombie worlds could be cool.

[@TeutonicKnight92]

While we saw Thrawn's tactical genius I was kinda sad we never saw the same level of strategic brilliance we saw in the Thrawn Trilogy In legends Thrawn was a strategic mastermind to the point where as a mid-level officer he was able to arrange events and implement a plan which allowed him to destroy an entire alien war-machine with a couple of frigate sized ships and a handful of fighters. He's tactically adept as well, his fight against the Trade Federation Task Force shows that , but I took the former event to be the more impressive. (Outbound Flight) In the Thrawn trilogy he managed to reunite the scattered and often rival forces of the galactic empire, among them the remnants of empire proper under the Ruling Council, the Pentastar Alignment, the Ciutric Hegemony and various other rouge warlord states. Then he managed to conduct raids against the Republic that while appearing to be simple harassment managed to provide his starfleet experience, impress his allies, test New Republic defenses and reactions and further set up the Sluis Van raid. This eventually led up to him launching and leading a galactic scale fight against the Republic, most likely the largest campaign since the Imperial Reunification of the Rim, post Clone Wars, which despite being outnumbered and less trained and experienced personal managed to keep his enemies off balance and dancing to his tone at nearly every turn return the empire to primacy before his death. In the book Thrawn seemed more like a detective novel more than anything else to the point where this version might have been better off if he had accepted the offer to be an ISB agent. He was brilliant in his deductions but we never got to see the brilliant warlord and fleet commander we saw in legends. Even in Rebels we never actually got to see him conducting fleet actions like fighting a full scale war like his Legends counterpart did. Again he was playing more detective than military officer. Though I suppose the situation the show put him in couldn't show him waging a war as the rebellion didn't have enough forces to actually be a military threat to any fleet Thrawn could command but still Still I think in the book they overemphasized the Sherlock Holmes aspect and left out the Erwin Rommel, Robert E. Lee, Hannibal Barca, Alexander the Great influence on his character. Hopefully we get to see an Unknown Regions campaign like the one mentioned by never seen in legends which will allow him to show his strategic brilliance and allow him to show his prowess as a Fleet commander.

[@MiguelLopez-zn1wo]

My favorite Star Wars KZbin channel of all time! Keep up the great content

[@grafffuller3265]

Thank you. This was such a great interview. He is such a relatable person and down right nice guy. Thanks, again.

[@kaleeshmatriarch455]

Nice to see a compelling interview with Timothy Zahn! He is certainly an accomplished writer for Star Wars and myself enjoyed seeing/reading Thrawn in Rebels. The upcoming Thrawn comic and sequel novel will be an interesting read, along with the original set of books. So many plans for Thrawn set in motion throughout the whole Star Wars mythos. Hope Mara Jade and others will be included within the plans, appearing in whatever way, shape, or form is reasonable and necessary for them. Until then, Thrawn has become one of my favorite Star Wars characters and his Canon novel was thrilling. Can't wait to see the rest of his Canon story unfold in the near future of Star Wars! #ThrawnRules🙂👊👍☄📚💖

[@JacobOfJedi]

Great video, I really loved this interview! Timothy Zahn is the Man!

[@sybillestahl8646]

I’ve watched only a few sporadic episodes of Rebels, so I was three quarters through this book before I realized that Arhinda Pryce was ‘that’ Pryce. Thrawn is a fabulous book.

[@charlietrumpet96]

I was at celebration for the reveal of Thrawn and I think it is possibly the best Star Wars moment I’ve ever had in my life the atmosphere was AMAZING!!

[@AJVfilms]

Thanks for posting this. It was an interesting and informative interview with a true Legend within the Star Wars community. I can't wait to see more work from TImothy Zahn and I hope to see more of his characters show up in the new Canon in ways that fit so well like they've done with Thrawn.

[@matoscu]

Bring him to the table and have him part of the creative team of the disney's Star Wars universe.

[@daskinderparty5059]

Thrawn is my favorite character in Star Wars. No force powers, but is still super intuitive and wise.

[@darth2329]

Good for you man on getting this interview! Thats awesome stuff thanks for sharing it!!!!

[@FearLessWander]

Alex you’ve officially made it!

[@boomieboo]

What a great get and an awesome interview. Thanks Alex! Please do more interviews like this.

[@Jackal_El_Lobo34]

What I really would like to know is information based on these "Unknown Threats" suggested in the book. Thrawn refers to them as "Nomadic Pirates" but I would still like more information.

[@CertainlyCaro]

Killeric Longstar in Legends, it was a species called the Yuuzang Vong. It’s been hinted that they, like Thrawn, will be bridged over into Lucasfilm’s official canon. It might also be a newly introduced order called “The Attendants”, whose leader was none other than Snoke.

[@Erik-uj8ed]

Now, it has come time for the live-action introduction.

[@williammorales3725]

This is so awesome that your interview people from star wars. I love this video of how your expanding your channel.

[@tatters6623]

they should let Zahn write the next sw trilogy his books are so amazing!

[@ddanenel]

Alex Damon Not Worthy You alright there buddy

[@ArcturusOTE]

Dankiel He's just being humble, a simple man trying to make his way through the universe

[@LittleLargeMouth]

Incredible interview. You did so well!

[@bobthecopywriter]

WOW! Congratulations on getting this interview! WOW!

[@JanPeverell]

This was amazing

[@DiscipleEddie]

I love that Timothy zahn is happy with thrawn being back and not like all those whiney fanboys crying about how they changed thrawn. Timothy said it's the same thrawn and I see it too can't wait to see thrawn in live action

[@ParadoxDown]

The legend himself :D

[@cameronpearce5943]

I really hope we see Inquisitors post Rebels. I know Tarkin kinda hinted that they were gone by the time of Episode 4, but their could be some rogues.

[@joelmcfly5172]

I am so jealous!

[@SamuraiZakk7]

Loved his answer about Mara Jade being in Rebels/Canon. Maybe if they do a Post ROTJ-era animated series with Luke/Han/Leia she could appear down the line. That would be pretty neat!

[@ThrawnaDelRey]

15:49 now that Disney+ is a thing and greenlighting spin-off shows like their life depends on it, I wouldn't be surprised in the infamous "Thrawn & Ezra: Buddy Cop" series is somewhere on the table. Really interesting viewing this interview with all the info we have now 2 years later

[@Erik-uj8ed]

Well, it’s not quite two years later, but we now know that we will see Thrawn in live-action.

[@twodrsir]

The legends books on thrawn, outbound flight, etc are so damn good

[@Scruffy-LookingNerfHerder]

I want Thrawn in a live action movie!!!

[@Erik-uj8ed]

You’ll have to accept a Disney+ show.

[@Scruffy-LookingNerfHerder]

@@Erik-uj8ed that works too. I’m convinced the big Mando-verse crossover will be about him.

[@Young_BZ]

Awesome interview.

[@maxjones503]

You might want to invest in a second mic, I'm sure it would really improve the quality. Nonetheless it was a delight to watch a review like this, the lack of resources made it feel more sincere.

[@StarWarsExplained]

I think I'm gonna go lavalier next year. Tim was talking for so long, which was amazing, but my arms were TIRED by the end lol

[@rareroe305]

He's a very good speaker.

[@THEDeathWizard87]

Love the shirt that Alex is wearing too

[@brister7110]

Love the vid! Zahn is the best, such a cool and fun guy! Thrawn forever!

[@best_Dave_ever]

18:20 he confirmed there was no plan for the sequels back in 2017

[@tnertsuntan8944]

Hot diggity! Awesome interview Alex

[@chrisvdt6569]

that was awesome!

[@jonnyone-truck2460]

Hey guys, just wanted to drop a couple other titles from Mr. Zahn; The Black Collar series as well as the Cobra series. such a good author.

[@lukassskywalker6806]

Amazing, love your channel soo much Alex. It's so professional and interesting. Always when you upload, it makes my day. I am a gigantic star wars fan for 5 years, and it's kind of your fault, because when I found a little yoda lego figure I just needed to know from which movie is it and then I found your chanel, and it blow my mind... right now I have a massive star wars collection. I go to the movies in a costume and when I just walk around I imagine that I live in star wars just for fun. Please keep doing what you do and Mey the force be whit you.

[@Marclivis]

Yessssss

[@MogoFromHell]

Mr. Zahn also wrote a StarCraft novel last year, it was really awesome, the tone was bullseye, that man knows his shit !

[@joesibley350]

Awesome

[@Hivedragon]

Just love Zahn's writing, mine favourite book of his is Allegiance

[@TheoFairbanks]

Zahn is using "Jedi Council São Paulo" T-shirt, a fan club I'm part of!

[@skyscreamstudios]

First book by Mr. Zahn that I bought was Cobra in 1986 or 87. His name on a Star Wars novel is the only reason I read the Heir to the Empire trilogy. I generally don't read Star Wars books or other books based on movies or TV. Star Wars (original novelization), Splinter of a Minds Eye, and Heir to the Empire trilogy are the sum total. lol. The fact that I actually read some of his Star Wars books speaks to the quality of his writing in my mind.

[@BenStonememe]

"TV show of X wing" *Alex nods enthusiastically* hehe

[@thezendu4550]

Subliminal message strikes AGAIN at 9:43. What are you trying to seed in my subconsciousness, Alex? :D

[@StarWarsExplained]

I have no idea how this keeps happening...there is nothing even related to Battlefront in the project file for this interview.

[@thezendu4550]

I'm not an expert, but I would guess it's a bug in the software you use for editing.

[@markloeffler85]

The Zendu There appears to be a bug at 18:11 as well.

[@thezendu4550]

No, I believe this one is intentional. A reminder about Zahn's upcoming book in reference to what he's saying in this moment.

[@Sam_McGuire]

A true freakin legend

[@giladpellaeon1691]

Would love to see Jade, Karrde, and Bel Iblis back too.

[@DharamVeer-pp4ib]

Iblis was criminally underused.

[@qoladipo5754]

Nice!

[@markocizmanski9107]

I wish that the DAMN THRAWN BOOK IS ABLE TO BE SOLD IN MY COUNTRY. It said on Audible:"We don't have the rights to sell this book i your country".

[@illusiveman1613]

emarko cizma same

[@schradester8]

You do seem to be getting better at interviews!

[@ggt47]

Woah!

[@joelmcfly5172]

Please make a Thrawn Spin Off!

[@Ampwich]

I'm surprised it isn't frustrating for all the eu authors, being told their works never actually happened in the universe, and having to start over again

[@thomasmaisonneuve9654]

I'd really like to see Kyle Katarn back in canon. Rogue One has been the closest thing we haven gotten to a Dark Forces movie we've gotten and I'd love to see a movie in the same style with Jan and Kyle back at it.

[@kameelelian6044]

What a writer he was given a pile of crap and was able to give us something. Of all the writers that received a kick in nuts and was able to rally its this man. This guy won a triple crown and was asked to do it again and again...not fair ...the not fair of the century as far as a writer could ex

[@danielandersson7693]

Why is there a spliced image from star wars battlefront 2 trailer at 9:43?

[@mauriziodanielemutti7874]

Subtle ads?

[@StarWarsExplained]

I have no idea. This happened another time recently. The image that got spliced in is nowhere in the project file. I don't get how it happened.

[@mitchbloemberg7321]

EPIC

[@HundredYearsBoar]

Dude nice!

[@lcm361]

his shirt is an honour to all Brazilians =,)

[@jlokison]

I feel it's becoming less and less likely that Mara Jade will enter the new canon, and if she does chances are she will be very different. The new canon has shown what and where Shev Palpatine's interests lie. With Vader and the inquisitors, does he need or want any additional distraction from unlocking the secrets of the Sith shrine under the Jedi Temple, aka his new palace, something he had not completed when he was killed at the Battle of Endor. If Mara Jade was one of the stolen children raised as a second generation Inquisitor, such people would have a special role during operation Cinder I would think. Even if she encountered Luke while he was searching for lost information I only see it ending two ways, they end up with a very very different relationship or she died before they had children during the destruction of Luke's Jedi Academy.

[@voca5415]

17:30 Lol

[@cameronpearce5943]

I'd love to see Mara Jade as an Inquisitor

[@purewitz]

I understand you only talked for 23 minutes, but I'm surprised you didn't ask Timothy Zahn one question about his involvement with the writing of the upcoming Star Wars: The Old Republic story arc "Traitor Among The Chiss". The story arc starts sometime in November (No date has been set yet.) and the story starts on the Chiss world of Copero. The story arc isn't completely written by Timothy Zahn, but he collaborated with the main SWTOR writing team on writing the story. Due to the fact he is the ultimate datacron, when it comes to all things Chiss. This article (dulfy.net/2017/10/06/swtor-nycc-cantina-news-and-info/ ) has some quotes of different things he said at the SWTOR Catina Event at New York Comic Con. Such thing as stuff about the Chiss he never got to in the books. Such as culture, structures, the Chiss during The Old Republic and before the films, and including more female Chiss.

[@MrDinko]

Hello There! :D

[@Erik-uj8ed]

Aye

[@JaydenVarghese]

Alex must be going crazy in his mind talking to this dude

[@StarWarsExplained]

media3.giphy.com/media/8d72Pydfl4CAw/giphy.gif

[@TedSchoenling]

Love the Thrawn book. Made me actually like Thrawn, and made me dislike Pryce much more. Such a well written book.

[@TedSchoenling]

to clarify, made me like the Rebel's version of Thrawn. I enjoyed him in the Heir to the Empire trilogy.

[@esthercornwell6351]

I wounder what Thrawn knows about the unknown regions?

[@moribundus959]

Alex can't lift mjolnir....

[@xvor_tex8577]

Spyros Gkanas You’re Saying he isn’t worthy to interview Timothy Zahn.....

[@elementaljedi9335]

How come the Death troopers from Rebels talk normally, while the ones from Rogue One don’t? For Q/A if possible plzz

[@dreadnought-ai]

I thought they had their scramblers "turned off"

[@CULater000]

Elemental Jedi they were talking with normal stormtroopers and other imperials, so they probably turned off the scrambling

[@kubli365]

I'm guessing it was for the audience and they were probably still scrambled in-universe.

[@AEmyDeAngelis]

Tim reminds me of GRR Martin. How cool would it be to have a GRRM star wars book?

[@jamesb.8940]

Emanuele Leone It would be 800 pages long, and take 10 years to write - if it were ever published. And GRRM would spend years doing related stuff, but not bringing it out.

[@AEmyDeAngelis]

James M that's why it would be awesome ahahaha

[@floobersman]

Hey would kill off all the characters we love.

[@AEmyDeAngelis]

Brandon Y well, a good reason to create new characters :P

[@GAdmThrawn]

Honestly, I think it would be a welcome change of pace. His details and his length would be unlike anything we had ever seen (except for perhaps the ROTS novelization and _Darth_ _Plagueis_ ). His mature themes and scenes would make it stand out in comparison to the more lighter tones of other books (the only equivalent I can think of is Joe Schrieber's books as they are more horror-esque). Imagine more grounded environments that can be easily realized on Earth with real people. I think that he would have to catch up on a lot of Star Wars history both old and new in order to familiarize himself. But were it to ever happen? I don't think so. Martin's too focused right now on _A_ _Song_ _of_ _Ice_ _and_ _Fire_ and the world surrounding it to be brought in. I think he's going to end up like Tolkein where that world is going to be he is going to write about and expand on along with other people such as for the spin-off books, comics, and chronologies. Currently, the closest authors that I think we have to his level for Star Wars are Timothy Zahn and James Luceno. I would add Kevin J. Anderson but he hasn't been all that involved in Star Wars for a while now although he did help to expand the universe early on.

[@NiraSader]

My real question is: when's the Zann consortium coming back? :/

[@xxvaltielxx1789]

Bring back the most OP/broken faction in Game history!!! xD

[@alice6035]

Never hopefully

[@Alpharius97]

A Zann Consortium Racketeer appeared in Star Wars: Uprising prior to its shut down. So they are back.

[@Sirus7009]

why never?

[@supersaiyanjalil]

xX Valtiel Xx omg I hate them

[@ThePCguy17]

Why the picture of Iden at 9:43?

[@Dingutifunati]

The Chiss Ascendancy is coming to SWTOR.. that looks interesting and Zahn helped create the story..

[@ThomasJarvis117]

But what about scoundrels?!?

[@davidv4018]

Tjgaming _ i have that book, didn't read it yet. How is it?

[@Penguin-lc3eg]

I just finished watching the two new Rebels episodes... I"m extremely triggered over how pathetic the death troopers were... They can't see through smoke from their helmets? Really? What the hell is the point of the augmented gear then? Here's a quote from the rogue one ultimate visual guide: "Death trooper gear is an improvement on mass-produced stormtrooper kit. More sophisticated sensing apparatus keeps troopers in total situational awareness of combat arenas, allies, and enemies." Yet Sabine throws a stupid little smoke grenade, and wow! Death troopers become just as useless as stormtroopers! Making the Empire incompetent to a certain extent is fine but come on! They crossed the line by making the death troopers garbage. I rarely get pissed at Star Wars, almost never, but this is just too much.

[@DharamVeer-pp4ib]

Sounds less worst than Hellisabers...

[@skarmachild]

MOVIN UP IN THE WORLD, can we expect a alex directed star wars film? preferably a jar jar binks side story but im not fussy

[@Paerigos]

Well truth is... I was desperately hoping that I would see at the end of The Last Jedi a squadron of clawcraft, led by Jagged Fel and claiming they are Syndics Mitth'raw'nuruodo´s household phalanx who came to help... except for the scene from Remnat when Gill Pelleaon proclaims to Yuuzhan Vong that "The empire will always strike back" it was pretty much the only highlight of New Jedi Order. would salvage most of the movie...

[@MPedich]

The Chiss would work great for a TV series. They're cheap too make. No CGI, no mo-cap, no complicated prosthetics...

[@kosovomapping1039]

irrelevant, but i got a french samsung ad for this video...

[@linkkling]

Dude Alex looks really different here

[@wesleykriz9348]

Mara Jade should just be an inquisitor-in-training!

[@valdemarsamuelsson5352]

Hi

[@Erik-uj8ed]

Hello

[@adrisjones7261]

got to get two mics buddy...other than that good job

[@ccody-long6915]

0:08 "not worthy" lol

[@armintabari3391]

Non skywalker is for anthology and tv not for movie series