Lars Mikkelsen on Why Thrawn Needed “Tweaking” in Live-Action
Written by on June 8, 2023
Grand Admiral Thrawn, the cunning villain who was first introduced in the 1991 novel by Timothy Zahn, Heir to the Empire, is a blue-skinned Chiss from the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. Thrawn, using his calculating mind, played war like chess, and rose up the ranks of the Imperial Navy and – in doing so – became the best strategic military mind of the Empire, before taking the top seat at the head of the table from Emperor Palpatine following his (temporary) demise at the hands of his own apprentice, Darth Vader.
Now, that sounds like a pretty cool character. And if you’re a fan of the Zahn novels, or Star Wars Rebels, you’ll be a fan of Thrawn too. This made it all the more exciting when one of the most eagerly anticipated reveals in the future of Star Wars happened in April at Star Wars Celebration Europe, when Lars Mikkelsen was revealed to a euphoric crowd at the Celebration Stage, to be reprising his role as Thrawn from Rebels in Ahsoka.
In Empire Magazine’s latest issue, Mikkelsen explained that by making the transition to live-action, certain aspects of the performance he played in Rebels would need to be toned down in order for his to work, otherwise you would run the risk of performing a caricatured portrayal, which would thereby dilute the desired impact of what should still be a sinister and imposing antagonist for our heroes to overcome over the course of the series – whether that be one season, multiple, or even the recently-announced feature film.
Lars Mikkelsen Is Excited to Bring Thrawn to Life
Mikkelsen reinforced his excitement at playing the complex character and explained why he needed to evolve his portrayal in live-action, as understandably, certain aspects about the “melodious approach to animation” rarely transfer well to live-action.
“I’m not losing the voice, but I am tweaking it into live-action. When you do an animated character, there’s a whole melodious approach. When you’re there as a real person, that would be just slightly too much. I love the way he rises through the Empire, and the way he carries himself in that environment to become somebody. And then of course, how can you not like a very clever villain? Thrawn takes the time to understand his opponent’s culture, and what they’re about. It’s lovely to be playing that.”
Ahsoka will debut on Disney+ in August of this year, and you can check out the first trailer for the series down below.
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