UPDATE: Adam Templar has finally commented on the Thrawn audition tape and it is actually for a fan film.
Just an audition tape for a fan film Buddy..
— Adam Templar (@TemplarAdam) May 24, 2018
With Solo: A Star Wars Story is coming out this week and Episode IX set begin filming in July, it’s hard to say folks aren’t excited about the future of the franchise.
Speaking of the future, something strange has come up and it has us a little curious if we could be seeing a fan-favourite Star Wars villain make the jump from Rebels/Legends to the cinematic corner.
An interesting audition tape has crossed our path from British actor Adam Templar. It’s apparently for the role of Grand Admiral Thrawn and he’s gone as so far to paint himself blue, wear red eye contacts, and dress in Jedi robes.
https://vimeo.com/271510143
Commander Farrow, I fear you worry far too much, let us just apply a little reasoning to our situition.
If I were Master Shakaar, where would I hide?
We know our Jedi is a man of solitude, nature, peace, comfort in these things he would find. So it is wise to deduce that a location of this sort would be of much interest to him, yes?
Okay, so the 132 worlds in this quadrant we can now narrow that down to a much smaller 28.
He would also try to avoid the established urban worlds as most of them are now under the command of the Empire. Hmmm..
Nature, peace, hmmm…
Commander, set the coordinates for the penal system we leave here dearly. Oh, and, umm, alert Lord Vader. The noose is tied and set.
It is time to catch a Jedi.
I’m sure someone might know better than myself if this dialog is from an existing source like the novels/comics or made up for this reading.
In the audition, Thrawn is seeking to hunt down a Jedi Master (placeholder?) and is reporting to Darth Vader. This could suggest whatever the project is, Thrawn is taking out remaining Jedi post-Revenge of The Sith on behalf of the Empire.
Normally, we’d assume this was some acting student or fan messing about but Templar, while not a big name, has representation and does have plenty of film/television credits. Being located in the UK could suggest some sort of local casting call has gone out to actors.
Then again, we can’t verify it’s validity and are treating as a rumor at this point.
Thrawn has been established in Rebels, making him directly part of canon and like Clone Wars’ Saw Gerrera fair game for films like the anthologies.
He’s cold and calculated using his deep education of alien cultures and ruthless intelligence rather than the normal Imperial brutality to defeat his enemies, making him on of the more complex villains from the Legends era. Thrawn is a Chiss, which explains his blue skin and red eyes.
In the Rebels series, Thrawn is voiced by Mads Mikkelsen‘s brother Lars Mikkelsen. Mads plays Galen Erso in Rogue One, the father of protagonist Jyn Erso, was Lars’ casting an intended connection to the anthologies?
When Mads was originally cast in Rogue One, there had been speculation he was being placed in the role of Thrawn. This assumption Thrawn was being cast continued when Benicio Del Toro joined the cast of Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi as well.
If he was returning for more animated adventures we suspect that Lars would return to the role.
Thrawn doesn’t exactly seem like a good fit for Episode IX (currently casting new roles) due to General Hux and Kylo Ren seemingly now the military leaders running the First Order, it would be strange to see Thrawn out of the blue (pun intended) without having established him in the previous two movies.
We are also expecting to see the Knights of Ren to become the main antagonists.
However, it was recently revealed by author and Thrawn creator Timothy Zhan that he he’ll be writing two more novels but is waiting for Episode IX before getting the go ahead. Some have suggested this could mean that he might have a connection to the film but nothing has been confirmed.
Rebels did leave the door open for Thrawn’s return to the franchise at some point.
Yet, the lines in the audition tape suggest this scene takes place after Revenge of The Sith but before Return of The Jedi, which easily assumes this is for anthology project.
Thrawn’s place in the Star Wars universe does lineup with the timeline for the Kenobi anthology film which is expected to begin filming next year at Pinewood UK. It’s very possible the Jedi he is trying to hunt is actually Obi-Wan (the nature and peace sentiment sounds like Kenobi to us) which could be revealing Thrawn is the villain in that movie.
The Kenobi synopsis that was recently going around was revealed to be cut and pasted from a novel, meaning that we are sort of in the dark again about what to expect from the anthology outside to the Jedi Master hiding out on Tattoonie.
Kenobi and Episode IX are seemingly the only two live-action projects moving forward outside of Jon Favreau’s streaming series project which is confirmed to be set years after the death of Vader. There is a good chance he could very well show up in the Kenobi movie, but it’s only speculation for the moment.
What do you think? Should Lucasfilm finally bring Thrawn to the big screen?
SOURCE: OMEGA UNDERGROUND