Thrawn trilogy

"Heir to the Empire" redirects here. For the 1996 David Weber novel, see Heirs of Empire.
This article is about the 1991–93 trilogy. For the 2017–19 trilogy, see Star Wars: Thrawn. For the 2020–21 trilogy, see Thrawn Ascendancy. For the titular character, see Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Thrawn trilogy
  • Heir to the Empire (1991)
  • Dark Force Rising (1992)
  • The Last Command (1993)
AuthorTimothy Zahn
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreScience fiction
PublisherBantam Spectra
Published1991–1993
Media type

The Thrawn trilogy, also known as the Heir to the Empire trilogy, is a trilogy of novels set in the Star Wars universe, written by Timothy Zahn between 1991 and 1993. The first book marked the end of a notable drought of new Star Wars material over a four-year period, between the 10th anniversary of the original 1977 film's release and the release of Heir to the Empire (1991).[1]

Set approximately five years after the events depicted in Return of the Jedi,[2] the trilogy details the offensive campaigns of military genius Grand Admiral Thrawn as he attempts to bring down the recently-founded New Republic in a bid to restore the Galactic Empire to power. In addition to Thrawn, the trilogy introduces several new and notable characters, including Mara Jade and Talon Karrde.

The Thrawn trilogy sold a combined total of 15 million books,[3] with Heir to the Empire reaching #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list.[4] The trilogy has been met with critical acclaim, and its success is credited to the creation of the Star Wars Expanded Universe (EU), with the planet Coruscant from the trilogy later being adapted by George Lucas to his prequel trilogy of Star Wars films.[5]

On the EU's 2014 reboot, characters and concepts from the Thrawn trilogy were adapted to canon media, with Thrawn appearing in the animated Disney XD series Star Wars Rebels (2014) and, later, in the Disney+ live-action series Ahsoka (2023), portrayed by Lars Mikkelsen. Rukh, an assassin and bodyguard for Thrawn, appears in Rebels as well as Tales of the Empire (2022), voiced by veteran Lucasfilm talent Warwick Davis—the original actor behind the Ewok character Wicket W. Warrick in films like Return of the Jedi (1983) and Caravan of Courage (1984), among others. Gilad Pellaeon, an Imperial officer, was seen in the third season of The Mandalorian (2023), portrayed by Xander Berkeley.[6]

Zahn has also written two additional, alternate Thrawn trilogies in the new canon—Thrawn (2017–2019) and Thrawn Ascendancy (2020–2021); he has also consulted on Ahsoka.

  1. ^ "Star Wars in the UK: The Dark Times, 1987—1991". StarWars.com. April 15, 2013. Archived from the original on March 11, 2017. Retrieved May 30, 2022.
  2. ^ Sansweet, Stephen J. (1998). Star Wars Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Ballantine. p. xvii. ISBN 0-345-40227-8. OCLC 36960986.
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  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Rukh was invoked but never defined (see the help page).