174-555: Grand Admiral Thrawn (full name: Mitth'raw'nuruodo ; born: Kivu'raw'nuru ) is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. He first appeared in what came to be known as the Thrawn trilogy of novels (1991–1993) by Timothy Zahn . An Imperial military leader and a member of the Chiss race, Thrawn leads remnants of the scattered Galactic Empire in the aftermath of its fall. In
348-607: A double agent for the Chiss Ascendancy , his exile having been faked in order to assist with his infiltration. A six issue comic book miniseries adaptation of the first novel by Marvel Comics began in early 2018, and ended in June of that year. A sequel to the novel, titled Thrawn: Alliances , was released on July 24, 2018. This novel is set during the reign of the Empire. The main story line follows Grand Admiral Thrawn
522-660: A "brilliant strategist" and the "ruthless enforcer" Darth Vader on a mission to investigate a threat to the Empire on a planet called Batuu, which resides at the edges of the Unknown Regions. This is the same planet that many years previously Thrawn, then an officer of the Chiss Ascendancy, crossed paths with General Anakin Skywalker , flashbacks to this encounter tells of their "uneasy alliance" while facing several dangers. A third novel, Thrawn: Treason ,
696-453: A "company that started out as one of the more promising bastions of the digital revolution lost control to old-fashioned vulture capitalism". Providence/Tudor quickly cut a deal to sell the magazine to Miller Publishing for $ 77 million. When Wired Ventures investor Condé Nast heard about the deal through a leak to a Silicon Valley gossip columnist, they peremptorily outbid Miller and bought Wired magazine for $ 90 million dollars. The month of
870-582: A "wild" system at the frontiers of the Empire. The game expansion packs Defender of the Empire and Enemies of the Empire follow the story of how Thrawn thwarts the efforts of the traitorous Grand Admiral Zaarin to depose the Emperor, and Thrawn is promoted to Grand Admiral in his place. Thrawn is also a recruitable character for The Empire in the 1998 strategy computer game Star Wars: Rebellion , and later appears in Forces of Corruption expansion pack for
1044-434: A 10-episode adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back debuted in 1983. Billy Dee Williams joined the other two stars, reprising his role as Lando Calrissian. In 1983, Buena Vista Records released an original, 30-minute Star Wars audio drama titled Rebel Mission to Ord Mantell , written by Daley. In the 1990s, Time Warner Audio Publishing adapted several Star Wars series from Dark Horse Comics into audio dramas:
1218-469: A Rebel convoy. He realizes that the operation was planned by the "alien Admiral" Thrawn, who is given no acknowledgement by Vader or the Emperor. Fel understands that such reliance on an alien undercuts the xenophobic foundation of the Empire, and Thrawn goes unrewarded after the successful mission. In the "Tour of Duty III" segment of the 1994 space flight simulator /combat computer game Star Wars: TIE Fighter , then-Vice Admiral Thrawn establishes order in
1392-542: A blue face" and "easily the coolest villain in the Expanded Universe ", noting Thrawn's loss as one of the major consequences of Lucasfilm's abandonment of the old expanded universe for Star Wars: The Force Awakens . Emmet Asher-Perrin of Tor.com noted in 2016 that as "one of the most popular Expanded Universe villains" and "one of the most threatening antagonists that the Star Wars universe had on hand",
1566-593: A book publishing division (HardWired), licensed a Japanese edition with Dohosha Publishing, created a British edition ( Wired UK ) in a joint venture with the Guardian newspaper, and had signed with Gruner and Jahr to do a German edition to be headquartered in Berlin. And it began work on Wired TV in partnership with MSNBC, as well as three new magazine titles: a shelter book called Neo to be edited by Wired Editor-At-Large Katrina Heron and designed by Rhonda Rubenstein;
1740-515: A business magazine called The New Economy ; and a concept magazine with New York design star Tibor Kalman focusing on the countdown to the new millennium. In 1996, reacting to the IPOs of web competitors Yahoo, Lycos, Excite, and Infoseek, Wired Ventures announced its own IPO . It selected the leading East Cost investment bank Goldman Sachs and the leading West Coast bank Robertson Stephens as co-leads, with Goldman managing. Scheduled to go out in June,
1914-425: A cameo appearance in the 1998 young reader's book Galaxy of Fear: The Swarm by John Whitman , set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back . In the novel, Tash and Zack Arranda and their uncle Hoole, natives of Alderaan who are fugitives from the Empire, have a chance encounter with Thrawn on the planet of the S'krrr species. Though suspicious, Thrawn is cordial and later reluctantly aids them in stopping
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#17327803690002088-547: A command position over them." Although in Legends works Thrawn was mostly placed in post- Return of the Jedi storylines, Thrawn is set before the events of the original 1977 film. It covers several years between Thrawn's "first encounter" with the Empire and the events of the third season of Rebels , chronicling his rise to power. In the novel, seemingly exiled Chiss warrior Thrawn is rescued by Imperial soldiers, and soon proves
2262-646: A contract for advertising and bought the first 1000 subscribers. Rossetto and Metcalfe moved back to the United States to start Wired , finding the European Union not a cohesive enough media market to support a continent-wide publication. Origin’s upfront payment was the seed capital which saw Rossetto and Metcalfe through 12 fruitless months of fundraising. They approached established computer and lifestyle publishers, as well as venture capitalists, and met constant rejection. The Wired business concept
2436-539: A group to destroy the cloning facility on Wayland, killing C'baoth and destroying the cloning cylinders. Just as Thrawn and Pellaeon learn that the Noghri aided in the attack on Wayland, Thrawn's Noghri bodyguard, Rukh , kills the Grand Admiral—whose last words are, "But ... it was so artistically done." The tide of battle at Bilbringi turns, and with the hope of victory dashed by Thrawn's death, Pellaeon orders
2610-529: A hundred alien warships to gather in orbit over the Bothans' homeworld, which the Empire hopes to use to its benefit. In Vision of the Future (1998), Admiral Gilad Pellaeon admits that the Empire, down to only a few sectors, is now fighting a losing battle, and initiates peace talks with Princess Leia. However, Moff Disra hires a con artist, Flim , to impersonate the deceased Grand Admiral Thrawn to motivate
2784-430: A master and their apprentice. The franchise is set against a backdrop of galactic conflict involving republics and empires, such as the evil Galactic Empire . The Jedi and Sith prefer the use of a weapon called the lightsaber , a blade of plasma that can cut through virtually any surface and deflect energy bolts. The rest of the population, as well as renegades and soldiers, use plasma-powered blaster firearms . In
2958-472: A mixed reception from critics and audiences. Several Star Wars films have been produced separately from the Skywalker Saga. In 2008, Lucasfilm released the animated film The Clone Wars , which is set during the prequel trilogy and serves as the theatrical pilot of the television series of the same name . Following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, an "anthology" film series set between
3132-428: A phrase relating to a "power law"-type graph that helps to visualize the 2000s emergent new media business model. Anderson's article for Wired on this paradigm related to research on power law distribution models carried out by Clay Shirky , specifically in relation to bloggers. Anderson widened the definition of the term in capitals to describe a specific point of view relating to what he sees as an overlooked aspect of
3306-412: A private funding at the end of December 1996. Wired then proceeded to cut costs by focusing on its US magazine and web businesses, shutting its UK magazine, its book company, and its TV operation, and terminating work on new magazines. By June, Wired magazine was profitable. The web company, now rebranded Wired Digital, was growing. Wired execs wanted to try to go public again in 1998, catching what
3480-765: A second General Excellence in 1997. Wired ’s founding executive editor, Kevin Kelly , had been an editor of the Whole Earth Catalog , Co-Evolution Quarterly , and the Whole Earth Review . He brought with him contributing writers from those publications. Six authors of the first Wired issue (1.1) had written for Whole Earth Review , most notably Bruce Sterling (who was on the first cover) and Stewart Brand . Other contributors to Whole Earth who appeared in Wired , included William Gibson , who
3654-572: A series of murders of Jedi Masters. The Star Wars canon fictional universe spans multiple eras, of which three are focused around each of the film trilogies. The following eras were defined in January 2021, and further refined and expanded in April 2023: The Expanded Universe of spin-off media depicts different levels of continuity, which were deemed non-canonical and rebranded as Legends on April 25, 2014, to make most subsequent works align to
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#17327803690003828-725: A strategist and decides to bring him to the Emperor. A edited Version of the story was published in the Paperback edition of Outbound Flight . In "Command Decision", a November 1996 short story by Zahn published in Star Wars Adventure Journal #11, Thrawn is an admiral in the Imperial Navy with Parck as his subordinate. Thrawn orchestrates a plan to locate a Rebel base in "Side Trip" by Zahn and Michael A. Stackpole , published in Star Wars Adventure Journal #12 (February 1997) and #13 (May 1997), and reprinted in
4002-442: A theme for Obi-Wan Kenobi for the miniseries and Han Solo's theme for Solo: A Star Wars Story . Williams also created the main theme for Galaxy's Edge . Several other composers worked on other soundtracks, including John Powell ( Obi-Wan Kenobi ), Michael Giacchino ( Rogue One ), and Ludwig Göransson ( The Mandalorian ). The first Star Wars audio work is The Story of Star Wars , an LP using audio samples from
4176-460: A valuable asset to the Empire. His cunning and expertise as a tactician soon attract the attention of Emperor Palpatine, though Thrawn's renegade tactics ignite the ire of his superiors. As he rises in rank, Thrawn trains his aide-de-camp Ensign Eli Vanto in the ways of war, and finds himself in an uneasy alliance with ruthless administrator Arihnda Pryce while in search of rebel leader Nightswan. Ultimately, Thrawn reveals himself to Nightswan as
4350-406: Is "too smart and basically decent to become the servant of Palpatine that he later becomes", Zahn explains: My sense has always been that [Thrawn] was manipulating Palpatine just as much as Palpatine is manipulating him. After all, he only came to the Empire so that he could gain command rank, collect all the military hardware Palpatine was willing to give him, and then get himself kicked back out to
4524-623: Is attacked by purrgil while hovering over Lothal. Ensnared in the creatures' tentacles while simultaneously being confronted by the Force-wielding Ezra Bridger , who brought the purrgil to defend Lothal, the Star Destroyer is dragged by them into hyperspace , leaving both Thrawn's and Bridger's fates unknown. In a prerecorded video also presented at the July 2016 London Star Wars Celebration, Zahn announced that he
4698-578: Is attacked by a young Chiss commander named Mitth'raw'nuruodo—informally known as Thrawn. In the story, a Republic fleet comes across the Chiss for the first time. The alien commander, Thrawn, can handily defeat the Republic ships despite inferior weapons and numbers. Darth Sidious, Palpatine's alter-ego, seeks to destroy the Outbound Flight , and he and his agent Kinman Doriana convince Thrawn that
4872-514: Is common due to lightspeed hyperspace technology. The planets range from wealthy, planet-wide cities to deserts scarcely populated by primitive tribes. Virtually any Earth biome , along with many fictional ones, has its counterpart as a Star Wars planet which, in most cases, teem with sentient and non-sentient alien life. The franchise also makes use of other astronomical objects such as asteroid fields and nebulae . Spacecraft range from small starfighters to large capital ships, such as
5046-772: Is impossible for the Force. These superpowers are wielded by two major knightly orders at conflict with each other: the Jedi , peacekeepers of the Galactic Republic who act on the light side of the Force through non-attachment and arbitration , and the Sith , who use the dark side by manipulating fear and aggression. While Jedi Knights can be numerous, the Dark Lords of the Sith (or 'Darths') are intended to be limited to two:
5220-461: Is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time. The original 1977 film, retroactively subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope , was followed by the sequels Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983), forming the original Star Wars trilogy . Lucas later returned to the series to write and direct a prequel trilogy , consisting of Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999), Episode II: Attack of
5394-502: Is reprimanded by his Chiss superiors for his hostile behavior, and summoned back to his home planet Csilla . Publishers Weekly called Thrawn the "true star" of the novel, noting that his attack on the ship, secretly influenced by Palpatine's agents, "insures his own eventual exile from his race and sets other sinister wheels in motion". Zahn said of writing the novel, "as always, it was immensely fun to play tactics with Thrawn". Though StarWars.com suggests that in Outbound Flight , Thrawn
Grand Admiral Thrawn - Misplaced Pages Continue
5568-499: Is surprised when the Noghri suddenly surrenders. Thrawn launches his first offensive, a series of hit-and-run attacks into New Republic territory, and then steals a complement of mole miners from Lando Calrissian 's mining operations on Nkllon . In need of warships, and with his previous tactics having forced over 100 lightly crewed ships to be stationed at the Sluis Van shipyards as he planned, Thrawn invades. His stormtroopers use
5742-511: Is the commander of the Seventh Fleet, recently promoted to Grand Admiral for crushing a rebel insurgency on Batonn without regard for civilian casualties. He is brought in by Imperial Governor Arihnda Pryce to help destroy the series' eponymous rebel cell. A patient tactician, Thrawn allows the rebels to escape, intending to manipulate them into orchestrating the complete downfall of their rebellion. In " Hera's Heroes ", he takes command of
5916-439: Is widely credited with reviving interest in the Star Wars franchise. In 2010, Star Wars: The Clone Wars creator Filoni expressed interest in using Thrawn in that series. Some fans of Zahn's Thrawn series had long hoped the books would be adapted, and after the 2012 announcement that The Walt Disney Company had acquired Lucasfilm and planned to produce film sequels to Return of the Jedi , Zahn commented that if material from
6090-677: The Heir to the Empire trilogy, was written by Timothy Zahn between 1991 and 1993. Approximately five years after the events depicted in Return of the Jedi , the Rebel Alliance , now known as the New Republic, has driven out the remnants of the old Imperial Starfleet to a distant corner of the galaxy and is attempting to set up a functional government. Princess Leia and Han Solo are married and expecting twins. Luke Skywalker has become
6264-538: The Jedi Academy trilogy (1994) by Kevin J. Anderson , the 14-book Young Jedi Knights series (1995–1998) by Anderson and Rebecca Moesta , and the X-wing series (1996–2012) by Michael A. Stackpole and Aaron Allston . Del Rey took over Star Wars book publishing in 1999, releasing what would become a 19-installment novel series called The New Jedi Order (1999–2003). Written by multiple authors,
6438-609: The Star Wars Expanded Universe , including novels, comics and video games, through 2006. He is often cited as one of the most popular characters in the franchise. Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni said of the character in 2016, "You couldn't have grown up a Star Wars fan without encountering Thrawn in Heir to the Empire . It was a dark time when there weren't any more movies, and it blew our minds that there could be more." The Thrawn trilogy itself
6612-522: The Star Wars expanded universe . In 2014, these stories were rebranded as Star Wars Legends by Lucasfilm and rendered non- canon . Thrawn reentered official canon in the 3D animated TV series Star Wars Rebels from 2016 to 2018, voiced by Lars Mikkelsen . Zahn published a new Thrawn trilogy (2017–2019) and then the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy (2020–2021), reinventing Thrawn as an anti-villain and double agent who infiltrates
6786-442: The 2008 series of the same name . Following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, all animated series released prior to 2014, apart from the 2008 series, were discarded from the franchise's canon . Subsequent animated series include Rebels , released in 2014; Resistance , released in 2018; and The Bad Batch , released in 2021. Several micro-series and shorts have also been released by Lucasfilm since Disney's acquisition, with
6960-459: The Disney+ series Ahsoka (2023), with Mikkelsen reprising his role. Mikkelsen later reprised the voice role in the animated anthology series Tales of the Empire (2024). Thrawn has been called one of the most significant and popular characters in the Legends continuity. Several Star Wars action figures and other merchandise have been produced of the character. Thrawn first appeared in
7134-659: The Information Superhighway . Due to the work of John Battelle’s fiancée, ex-CBS producer Michelle Scileppi, feature pieces on Wired ’s launch appeared on CNN and in The San Jose Mercury News , Newsweek and Time magazines. Circulation and advertising response was so strong that Wired went bi-monthly with its next issue, and monthly by September with the William Gibson cover story about Singapore called " Disneyland with
Grand Admiral Thrawn - Misplaced Pages Continue
7308-465: The Katana fleet. A virus infected the crews of the entire fleet and drove them insane. The fleet was not seen again until smuggler Talon Karrde discovered it (several years before the events of the first book). With access to Palpatine's private storehouse on the planet Wayland, Thrawn presses his advantage to marshal more forces for the battle against the New Republic. Mara Jade, in an attempt to exonerate
7482-463: The New Republic era, serving as the climax of the various live-action television series that began with The Mandalorian in 2019. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy will direct a third film about a new Jedi Order, set fifteen years after the sequel trilogy. In January 2024, it was announced that Jon Favreau would direct a new Star Wars film, titled The Mandalorian & Grogu . In February of
7656-466: The Republic , the return of Luke as a Jedi Master (a role similar to that of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original trilogy), Luke's sister (not yet determined to be Leia), Han, Leia, R2-D2 and C-3PO . However, after beginning work on the prequel trilogy, Lucas insisted that Star Wars was meant to be a six-part series and that there would be no sequel trilogy. Lucas decided to leave the franchise in
7830-476: The Sith . Although no longer canon, the story is paralleled in The Force Awakens with Han and Leia's son Ben Solo , who becomes the evil Kylo Ren. Three series set in the prequel era were published by Scholastic for younger audiences: the 18-book Jedi Apprentice (1999–2002) chronicles the adventures of Obi-Wan Kenobi and his master Qui-Gon Jinn in the years before The Phantom Menace ;
8004-480: The Star Destroyers , as well as space stations such as the moon-sized Death Stars . Telecommunication includes two-way audio and audiovisual screens, holographic projections, and hyperspace transmission. The universe of Star Wars is generally similar to the real universe but its laws of physics are less strict allowing for more imaginative stories. One result of that is a mystical power known as
8178-467: The Star Wars Legends universe" in 2017, and Linda Hansen-Raj wrote that the character "carries a lasting legacy as one of Star Wars ' greatest and most complex antagonists." In 2014, GamesRadar ' s Sam Ashurst called Thrawn "hugely popular amongst fans, partly because of his tactical genius, partly because of his progressive attitude to his employees but mainly due to the fact he's got
8352-552: The Star Wars Rebels character pack sold as downloadable content . In 2016, Anthony Breznican of Entertainment Weekly called Thrawn a "fan favorite" and "one of the most significant characters to ever emerge from the Expanded Universe", and Brian Truitt of USA Today named the character "one of Star Wars fandom's favorite villains". Comicbook.com called Thrawn "arguably the most popular character in
8526-565: The Thrawn trilogy, Leia considers an advantageous political marriage to Prince Isolder of the planet Hapes, but she and Han ultimately marry. Steve Perry 's Shadows of the Empire (1996), set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi , was part of a multimedia campaign that included a comic book series and video game. The novel introduced the crime lord Prince Xizor , another popular character who would appear in multiple other works. Other notable series from Bantam include
8700-483: The Thrawn trilogy, Thrawn returns from the unknown and leads Imperial remnants in a campaign against the New Republic , facing off against classic Star Wars characters Luke Skywalker , Princess Leia , Han Solo , Chewbacca , and Lando Calrissian , before seemingly being resurrected in the Hand of Thrawn duology (1997–1998), with his backstory explored in various other novels, short stories, comics, and video games in
8874-741: The Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy, to launch with Book I: Chaos Rising in May 2020. After being delayed twice, the first novel was ultimately released on September 1, 2020. In the novel, it was revealed that Thrawn was born as Kivu'raw'nuru (core name Vurawn ) before being adopted by the Mitth family, changing his name to Mitth'raw'nuru (core name Thrawn). The novel also covered more of Thrawn's backstory alongside other Chiss characters, such as Ar'alani, that also appeared in Thrawn: Treason ,
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#17327803690009048-563: The University of Southern California , licensed the Star Wars radio rights to KUSC-FM for US$ 1 . The production used John Williams's original film score, along with Ben Burtt 's sound effects. The first was written by science-fiction author Brian Daley and directed by John Madden . It was broadcast on National Public Radio in 1981, adapting the original 1977 film into 13 episodes. Mark Hamill and Anthony Daniels reprised their film roles. The overwhelming success, led to
9222-471: The 11-book Jedi Quest (2001–2004) follows Obi-Wan and his own apprentice, Anakin Skywalker in between The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones ; and the 10-book The Last of the Jedi (2005–2008), set almost immediately after Revenge of the Sith , features Obi-Wan and the last few surviving Jedi. In 2019, a new prequel era novel, starring Qui-Gon and the young Obi-Wan, was published by Del Rey under
9396-463: The 1991 Timothy Zahn novel Heir to the Empire , the first installment of what became known as the first Thrawn trilogy. He is a Grand Admiral in the Imperial Navy , and categorically "the most brilliant of the Emperor's minions". A member of the alien Chiss species, native language Cheunh, Thrawn is described as a tall, solidly built humanoid with blue skin and glowing red eyes who wears
9570-437: The 1994 computer game Star Wars: TIE Fighter , and by Tim Russell in the 1997 audio drama Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire . In seasons three and four of Star Wars Rebels , Thrawn is voiced by Lars Mikkelsen . Mikkelsen reprised his role as Thrawn from Rebels in live-action in the 2023 Disney+ series Ahsoka . According to Zahn, Lou Aronica of Bantam Spectra had negotiated a book deal with Lucasfilm in 1989, and
9744-702: The 2006 real-time strategy game Star Wars: Empire at War . Thrawn cameos in Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron as a "Leader" character for the Galactic Empire in Galactic Conquest, earned by conquering all planets in the Northern Quadrant of the map and allows an army to move twice in one turn if the first move is begun within said quadrant. This power is shared with Admiral Ackbar for
9918-480: The Clones (2002), and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005). In 2012, Lucas sold his production company to Disney , relinquishing his ownership of the franchise. This led to a sequel trilogy , consisting of Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017), and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019). All nine films, collectively referred to as the " Skywalker Saga ", were nominated for Academy Awards , with wins going to
10092-530: The Death Penalty ", which was banned there. In January 1994, Advance Publications's Condé Nast made a minority investment in Wired Ventures. And in April that year, Wired won its first National Magazine Award for General Excellence for its first year of publication. During Rossetto's five years as editor, it would be nominated for General Excellence every year, win the design award in 1996, and
10266-468: The EU material until April 25, 2014, when the company announced all of the EU works would cease production. Existing works would no longer be considered canon to the franchise and subsequent reprints would be rebranded under the Star Wars Legends label, with downloadable content for the massively multiplayer online game The Old Republic the only Legends material to still be produced. The Star Wars canon
10440-567: The Empire , John Booth wrote in Wired that Zahn "created and developed Thrawn as a character [by] deliberately establishing the Grand Admiral as a villain who leads not by coercion and fear but through valuing strategy and loyalty". Zahn explained in 2008 that Thrawn's version of the Empire is different from that of Palpatine because Thrawn does not have Palpatine's megalomania and xenophobia . Calling Thrawn and Mara Jade his favorite of
10614-502: The Empire's ranks on behalf of his own people and the galactic government of the Unknown Regions, the Chiss Ascendancy . He intends to use Imperial resources to engage in open warfare with the extragalactic fanatics, the Grysk , before they can invade the galaxy, in the meantime opposing the Rebel Alliance on Palpatine 's behalf before being forcibly sent to another galaxy by and alongside Ezra Bridger . Thrawn made his live-action debut in
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#173278036900010788-558: The Empire's warrant for Karrde's arrest, goes to Thrawn and offers to reveal the location of the Katana fleet. Instead, he has her followed and Karrde is captured. Luke and Mara rescue Karrde from Thrawn's Star Destroyer as Thrawn attempts to capture another man who knows about the Katana fleet. Meanwhile, Leia learns that the Noghri serve the Empire because they revere her late father, Darth Vader , who they believe saved their planet Honoghr from ecological disaster. Leia convinces them that they have been deceived and effectively enslaved by
10962-422: The Empire, and they switch sides. With Ackbar temporarily neutralized as a tactical opponent, Thrawn leads an army of clones to claim the so-called " Katana fleet", outmaneuvering Luke, Lando, and Han Solo . In The Last Command (1993), set about a month after the previous book, Thrawn uses the Katana fleet, crewed with clones, to mount a successful offensive against the New Republic. Seizing one planet after
11136-408: The Force which is described in the original film as "an energy field created by all living things ... [that] binds the galaxy together". The field is depicted as a kind of pantheistic god. Through training and meditation, those whom "the Force is strong with" exhibit various superpowers (such as telekinesis , precognition , telepathy , and manipulation of physical energy); it is believed nothing
11310-482: The Hand of Thrawn, Luke and Mara discover a gestating and near-complete clone of Thrawn, which is killed during their escape. An expedition by Thrawn to the galaxy's Unknown Regions is also mentioned. Finally, a peace treaty is signed by Pellaeon and the New Republic's president. Thrawn appears as a captain in the 1997 William C. Dietz novella Dark Forces: Soldier for the Empire . A younger Thrawn, ranked Captain, makes
11484-508: The IPO was postponed when the market declined days before. When it finally went out in October, Goldman was unable to close the round following another market downturn, and Wired withdrew its IPO. Fingerpointing followed. Some observers claimed the market rejected Wired’s $ 293 million "internet valuation", as too rich for what was a traditional publishing company. Wired replied that its valuation
11658-578: The Imperial forces to retreat. Zahn's Specter of the Past (1997) finds Thrawn seemingly resurrected ten years after his death when he reappears to lead the decimated Imperial forces against the unstable New Republic. A record surfaces called the Caamasi Document, which indicates that a small group of Bothans were perpetrators in the tragic destruction of the planet Caamas and causes more than
11832-452: The Imperial forces. Major Grodin Tierce , the clone of a former stormtrooper imbued with Thrawn's tactical intellect by the grand admiral himself, strategizes that the false Thrawn could also rally support for the Empire and intimidate the New Republic. The tactic is successful until Pellaeon and Talon Karrde—on opposing sides but both desiring peace—expose Flim. Meanwhile, at a fortress called
12006-408: The Imperial leaders we see in the movies rule through a combination of fear and manipulation. I wanted to create something different: a commander who could lead through loyalty. The result was Thrawn, a tactical genius whose troops follow him willingly, and who will fight for him whether or not he's watching over their shoulders. Referencing Zahn's annotations in the 20th Anniversary Edition of Heir to
12180-608: The Imperial occupation of Ryloth , home planet of Hera Syndulla , and has his first face-to-face contact with the rebels. He reappears in " Iron Squadron ", where he orders the incompetent Admiral Konstantine to deal with rebels and rebel sympathizers in the Mykapo system; after Konstantine's ship is disabled, Thrawn arrives in his personal Star Destroyer, the Chimaera , and is revealed to have previously encountered rebel Commander Jun Sato. " An Inside Man " reveals Thrawn now in charge of
12354-466: The Imperial occupation of the planet Lothal , overseeing the factory where the new TIE Defender and various other pieces of equipment are manufactured. He puts an end to rebel acts of sabotage by enforcing a policy of the workers testing their creations and is also shown to be studying pieces of artwork that grant insight into each member of the Ghost crew. He also determines that there is a rebel spy within
12528-432: The Imperial ranks, but intends to use this to his advantage. In " Warhead ", Thrawn uses probe droids to determine that Sato's hidden rebel base is located on one of less than a hundred planets. Thrawn is shown to be skilled in hand-to-hand combat in " Through Imperial Eyes ", and learns that Agent Kallus is the rebel spy. In " Secret Cargo ", Thrawn and Pryce pursue Senator Mon Mothma , who is being transported to safety by
12702-597: The Italian edition of Wired and Wired.it . On April 2, 2009, Condé Nast relaunched the UK edition of Wired , edited by David Rowan, and launched Wired.co.uk . In 2006, Condé Nast repurchased Wired Digital from Lycos, returning the website to the same company that published the magazine, reuniting the brand. In August 2023, Katie Drummond was announced as the new editor of Wired . Wired ' s web presence started with its launch of Hotwired.com in October 1994. Hotwired
12876-543: The London Star Wars Celebration in July 2016 that Thrawn would be reintroduced into the franchise in the third season of the Rebels series. The character debuted in the season 3 premiere, " Steps Into Shadow ", which aired on September 24, 2016. Though in Legends works Thrawn was mostly used in post- Return of the Jedi storylines, Rebels takes place within the five years before the events of
13050-540: The Magistrate of Corvus. He is mentioned again in " Chapter 23: The Spies " (2023) during a meeting between Moff Gideon and the Shadow Council, a group of remnant Imperial warlords, who debate his rumored return and the delivery of Project Necromancer. Thrawn made his live-action debut in the 2023 Disney+ series Ahsoka in " Part Six: Far, Far Away ". It is revealed that the purrgil took Thrawn and Ezra to
13224-492: The Marvel magazine Pizzazz between 1977 and 1979. The 1977 installments were the first original Star Wars stories not directly adapted from the films to appear in print form, as they preceded those of the Star Wars comic series. From 1985 to 1987, the animated children's series Ewoks and Droids inspired comic series from Marvel's Star Comics line. According to Marvel Comics former Editor-In-Chief Jim Shooter ,
13398-666: The National Magazine Awards for General Excellence in its first year of publication, and others subsequently for both editorial and design. Adweek acknowledged Wired as its Magazine of the Decade in 2009. SF Gate called Wired "the magazine that led the digital revolution". From 1998 to 2006, Wired magazine and Wired News , which publishes at Wired.com , had separate owners. However, Wired News remained responsible for republishing Wired magazine's content online due to an agreement when Condé Nast purchased
13572-645: The New Republic despite their numerical advantage over the remaining Imperial forces. He sets his sights on the Wayland storehouse of the late Emperor Palpatine , which contains a massive array of Spaarti cloning cylinders and a practical cloaking shield. To this end, Thrawn and his subordinate Gilad Pellaeon , captain of the Star Destroyer Chimaera , enlist the help of smuggler Talon Karrde and his second-in-command Mara Jade to obtain several salamander-like creatures called ysalamiri . Thrawn uses
13746-633: The November 1997 anthology Tales from the Empire . The success of this mission earns him the command of Darth Vader's Noghri commandos. Zahn's novella Crisis of Faith , published with the 20th Anniversary Edition of Heir to the Empire on September 6, 2011, is set immediately before Heir to the Empire and finds Thrawn finally able to defeat Nuso Esva. Trade paperbacks : In the 1997 Dark Horse comic Star Wars: X-wing – Rogue Squadron 25: The Making of Baron Fel , set four years after A New Hope , Imperial pilot Soontir Fel participates in an ambush on
13920-497: The Rebel Alliance. He is also a collectible character in the 2015 mobile collectible Role-playing video game , Galaxy of Heroes . In April 2014, with the sequel film Star Wars: The Force Awakens in production, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the 1977 film Star Wars were declared non-canon to the franchise. However, Star Wars Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni announced at
14094-631: The Unknown Regions. Set between Star Wars: A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back , Zahn's Choices of One (2011) pits Thrawn against the alien warlord Nuso Esva, his nemesis from the Unknown Regions. Thrawn, exiled by the Chiss to an inhospitable planet, is found by the Imperial Captain Voss Parck in "Mist Encounter" a short story by Zahn that was originally published in Star Wars Adventure Journal #7 (August 1995). Parck realizes Thrawn's value as
14268-671: The announcement. Since the new canon has been introduced, there has been a multitude of pieces of Expanded Universe continuity that have become a part of canon. Star Wars in print predates the release of the first film, with the November 1976 novelization of Star Wars , initially subtitled " From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker ". Credited to Lucas, it was ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster . The first "Expanded Universe" story appeared in Marvel Comics ' Star Wars #7 in January 1978 (the first six issues being an adaptation of
14442-431: The business leadership of publisher Drew Schutte who expanded the brands reach by launching The Wired Store and Wired NextFest. In 2001 Wired found new editorial direction under editor-in-chief Chris Anderson , making the magazine's coverage "more mainstream". The print magazine's average page length, however, declined significantly from 1996 to 2001 and then again from 2001 to 2003. In 2009, Condé Nast Italia launched
14616-603: The business plan, Metcalfe and Rossetto and their initial band of twelve Wired Ones launched Wired as a quarterly on 6 January 1993 and first distributed it by hand at Macworld Expo in San Francisco and, later that week, at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Copies arrived on newsstand two weeks later as Bill Clinton took office as President, with his Vice President Al Gore touting
14790-465: The character had been on his list of potential villains when developing Rebels . He explained that unlike how the character Ahsoka Tano has been a foil for Darth Vader in previous seasons of Rebels , "There's no one to defend [the Rebels] against Thrawn. We want to treat him like a big-time villain, as much as Darth Vader, but on the strategic, military side of things." In "Steps into Shadow", Thrawn
14964-423: The character's removal from canon continuity "had many fans crying foul". In 2008, Jesse Schedeen of IGN credited Thrawn and the Thrawn trilogy with "kickstarting" the Star Wars expanded universe", and in 2015 Empire suggested that Thrawn's character helped "revitalize and legitimise" the expanded universe when it was failing. Eric Goldman wrote for IGN in 2008, "Diabolical, brilliant and ruthless, Thrawn
15138-521: The characters he created, Zahn noted in 2006 that writing the Grand Admiral "provides the intellectual challenge of trying to come up with new, clever, and (hopefully) workable tactics and strategies." Zahn has also stated that Thrawn's entire motivation, both serving in the Empire and the Ascendancy, is to protect the Chiss people and "everything else flows from that." Thrawn is voiced by Tris King in
15312-410: The company by not closing the round which already had investors booked. The Goldman executive who managed the IPO is quoted as saying "Had the market not been so volatile, I believe the offering would have been quite successful." Goldman’s failure left Wired Ventures cash-strapped. It turned to its current investor Tudor Investment Corporation . Tudor brought on Providence Equity Capital , concluding
15486-554: The creation of the First Order . Thrawn appears as a playable character in the 2017 real-time strategy mobile game Star Wars: Force Arena , and was later introduced to Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes , a turn-based role-playing game , that summer, as both a special event boss and playable character. He is a bonus playable character in Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga , available in
15660-489: The drog beetles from overrunning the planet. Before the theatrical release of Attack of the Clones , Lucasfilm suggested that Zahn write a prequel-era book. Zahn decided to have his 2004 novel Survivor's Quest (the sequel to The Hand of Thrawn duology) cover the end of the Outbound Flight story arc before exploring its beginning in his prequel novel. In Survivor's Quest , Luke and Mara journey to investigate
15834-416: The earlier animated series falling under Disney's "Vintage" collection of Star Wars content. The Star Wars franchise includes several live-action series. The first series, The Mandalorian , was released in 2019 for the streaming service Disney+ and is set between the original and sequel trilogies of the Skywalker Saga. Due to its success, the series spawned multiple live-action spin-offs set during
16008-533: The editor on the piece that became Argo. The magazine was launched in 1993 by American expatriates Louis Rossetto and his life and business partner Jane Metcalfe . Wired was originally conceived in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, when they were working on Electric Word , a small, groundbreaking technology magazine that developed a global following because of its focus not just on hardware and software, but
16182-399: The episodic films, The Clone Wars film , and television series . From 1976 to 2014, the term Expanded Universe (EU) was an umbrella term for all officially licensed Star Wars storytelling material set outside the events depicted within the theatrical films, including novels, comics, and video games. Lucasfilm maintained internal continuity between the films and television content and
16356-495: The evil Sith lord Palpatine (Darth Sidious). The original trilogy depicts the heroic development of Luke Skywalker as a Jedi and his fight against Palpatine's Galactic Empire alongside his sister, Leia . The prequels tell the tragic backstory of their father, Anakin , who is corrupted by Palpatine and becomes Darth Vader . The sequels follow the conflict between Leia's son, Ben Solo , and Luke and Leia's protegé, Rey , and their eventual alliance against Palpatine after
16530-399: The evolution of digital technology and its impact on society. Wired quickly became recognized as the voice of the emerging digital economy and culture and a pace setter in print design and web design. During its explosive growth in the mid-1990s, it articulated the values of a far-reaching "digital revolution" driven by the people creating and using digital technology and networks. It won
16704-412: The expanded universe were used in the films, "we'd all be thrilled to death". With the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney, most of the licensed Star Wars novels and comics produced since the originating 1977 film Star Wars were rebranded as Star Wars Legends and declared non-canon to the franchise in April 2014. Though Lucasfilm made it clear that new media would "not tell the same story told in
16878-463: The fall of the Empire. In 1971, George Lucas wanted to film an adaptation of the Flash Gordon serial , but could not obtain the rights, so he began developing his own space opera . After directing American Graffiti (1973), he wrote a two-page synopsis, which 20th Century Fox decided to invest in. By 1974, he had expanded the story into the first draft of a screenplay. Fox expected
17052-479: The film would be of limited financial success, and so it was given a relatively low budget, with production being moved to Elstree Studios in England to help save on cost. Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977, and first subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope in the 1979 book The Art of Star Wars . The film's success led Lucas to make it the basis of an elaborate film serial . With the backstory he created for
17226-650: The film), followed by Foster's sequel novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye the following month. After penning the novelization of the original film, Foster followed it with the sequel Splinter of the Mind's Eye (1978). The novelizations of The Empire Strikes Back (1980) by Donald F. Glut and Return of the Jedi (1983) by James Kahn followed, as well as The Han Solo Adventures trilogy (1979–1980) by Brian Daley , and The Adventures of Lando Calrissian trilogy (1983) by L. Neil Smith . Timothy Zahn 's bestselling Thrawn trilogy (1991–1993) reignited interest in
17400-417: The first in a long-awaited new line of Jedi Knights. Thousands of light years away, Grand Admiral Thrawn, the last and most brilliant of the 12 grand admirals, has taken command of the shattered Imperial Fleet and prepared it to attack the New Republic. Thrawn is searching for a Dark Jedi to join his side and is confident he can restore the Empire. In Heir to the Empire (1991), Thrawn plots to destroy
17574-713: The first investor in Wired, but even before he could write his check, software entrepreneur Charlie Jackson deposited the first investor money in the Wired account a few weeks later. Negroponte was to become a regular columnist for six years (through 1998), wrote the book Being Digital , and later founded One Laptop per Child . By September 1992, Wired had rented loft space in the SoMa district of San Francisco off South Park and hired its first employees. As Editor and CEO, Rossetto oversaw content and business strategy, and Metcalfe, as President and COO, oversaw advertising, circulation, finance, and company operations. Kevin Kelly
17748-474: The first issue. She and her protégé Simon Ferguson ( Wired ' s first advertising manager) landed pioneering campaigns by a diverse group of industry leaders such as Apple Computer , Intel , Sony , Calvin Klein , and Absolut . Lyman and Ferguson left in year two. Condé Nast veteran Dana Lyon then took over ad sales. Two years after they left Amsterdam, and nearly five years after they first started work on
17922-609: The first two releases. Together with the theatrical live action "anthology" films Rogue One (2016) and Solo (2018), the combined box office revenue of the films equate to over US$ 10 billion, making Star Wars the third-highest-grossing film franchise of all time. The Star Wars franchise depicts the adventures of characters "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" across multiple fictional eras , in which humans and many species of aliens (often humanoid ) co-exist with droids , which may be programmed for personal assistance or battle. Space travel between planets
18096-539: The first with original content and Fortune 500 advertising. Inventing the banner ad, Wired brought ATT , Volvo , MCI, Club Med and seven other companies to the web for the first time on websites built by Jonathan Nelson’s Organic Online . Among the launch crew of 12 was Jonathan Steuer , who led the group, Justin Hall , a pioneer blogger who ran his own successful site on the side, Howard Rheingold as executive editor, and Apache server co-creator Brian Behlendorf , who
18270-645: The former was sold to Condé Nast and the latter to Lycos in September 1998. The two remained independent until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006. This move finally reunited the Wired brand. As of August 2023, Wired.com is paywalled . Users may only access a limited number of articles per month without payment. Today, Wired.com hosts several technology blogs on topics in security, business, new products, culture, and science. From 2004 to 2008, Wired organized an annual "festival of innovative products and technologies". A NextFest for 2009
18444-532: The franchise and introduced the popular characters Grand Admiral Thrawn , Mara Jade , Talon Karrde , and Gilad Pellaeon . The first novel, Heir to the Empire , reached #1 on the New York Times Best Seller list , and the series finds Luke, Leia, and Han facing off against tactical genius Thrawn, who is plotting to retake the galaxy for the Empire. In The Courtship of Princess Leia (1994) by Dave Wolverton , set immediately before
18618-404: The franchise as "the tragedy of Darth Vader". Prior to releasing the original 1977 film, and made possible by its success, Lucas planned "three trilogies of nine films". However, he announced to Time in 1978 that he planned "10 sequels". He confirmed that he had outlined the prequels and sequels in 1981. At various stages of development, the sequel trilogy was to focus on the rebuilding of
18792-640: The gap between the High Republic publishing initiative and the events of The Acolyte . Titled Star Wars: The Acolyte – Kelnacca , the one-shot was written by High Republic writer Cavan Scott with art by Marika Cresta. It focuses on Kelnacca, the Wookiee Jedi introduced in The Acolyte . John Williams composed the soundtracks for the nine episodic films. He stated he would retire from the franchise with The Rise of Skywalker , but he composed
18966-483: The hands of other filmmakers, announcing in January 2012 that he would make no more Star Wars films. That October, the Walt Disney Company agreed to buy Lucasfilm and announced that Episode VII would be released in 2015. The co-chairman of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy , became president and served as executive producer of new Star Wars feature films. Lucas provided Kennedy his story treatments for
19140-418: The late 1980s and early 1990s, including the ability to create computer-generated imagery (CGI), inspired Lucas to consider that it might be possible to revisit his saga. In 1989, Lucas stated that the prequels would be "unbelievably expensive". In 1992, he acknowledged that he had plans to create the prequel trilogy. A theatrical rerelease of the original trilogy in 1997 " updated " the 20-year-old films with
19314-464: The magazine. In 2006, Condé Nast bought Wired News for $ 25 million, reuniting the magazine with its website. Wired ’s second editor Katrina Heron published Bill Joy's " Why the Future Doesn't Need Us ", breaking with Wired's optimism to present a dystopian view of the technological future. Wired 's third editor, Chris Anderson is known for popularizing the term "the long tail ", as
19488-671: The main episodes of the Skywalker Saga entered development in parallel with the production of the sequel trilogy, described by Disney chief financial officer Jay Rasulo as origin stories . The first film released was 2016's Rogue One , which tells the story of the rebels who steal the plans for the Death Star , the Galactic Empire 's superweapon, just before the events of the original Star Wars film. A second film, 2018's Solo , tells Han Solo's backstory, set 10 years prior to A New Hope . The series Obi-Wan Kenobi
19662-412: The many sourcebooks created for West End Games ' Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game , saying that they "saved me from having to reinvent the wheel many times". In turn, each novel in the trilogy had its role-playing game sourcebook created for it by West End Games. Introduced in the Thrawn trilogy (1991–93), Thrawn became a fan favorite and subsequently appeared in multiple works in what became known as
19836-513: The movie Argo . In more recent times, the publication became known for its deep investigative reporting, including a long story about Facebook—"Inside the Two Years that Shook Facebook and the World"—that became the publication's most read article of the modern era. It was written by Fred Vogelstein and Nicholas Thompson , the latter of whom was the publication's editor-in-chief and had also been
20010-490: The movie material, while others rely heavily on the non-canonical Expanded Universe (rebranded as Star Wars Legends and removed from the canon in 2014). Star Wars games have gone through three significant development eras, marked by a change in leadership among the developers: the early licensed games, those developed after the creation of LucasArts, and those created after the closure of the Lucasfilm division by Disney and
20184-405: The networking explosion, carrying cover stories on Yahoo’s origin story, Neal Stephenson’s 50,000 word, epic essay on the laying of the fiber optic datalink from London to Japan, and Bill Gate’s media strategy for Microsoft. On October 27, 1994, 20 months after its first issue, and following the introduction of the first graphic web browser Mosaic, Wired Ventures launched its Hotwired website,
20358-506: The nine films of which are collectively referred to as the " Skywalker Saga ". The saga was produced non-chronologically, beginning in media res with the release of the original trilogy between 1977 and 1983. This was followed by the prequel trilogy, released between 1999 and 2005, and the sequel trilogy, released between 2015 and 2019. Each trilogy focuses on a generation of the Force -sensitive Skywalker family and their struggle against
20532-451: The nine-film series plotted, but due to the stress of producing the original trilogy, he had decided to cancel further sequels by 1981. In 1983, Lucas explained that "There was never a script completed that had the entire story as it exists now ... As the stories unfolded, I would take certain ideas and save them ... I kept taking out all the good parts, and I just kept telling myself I would make other movies someday." Technical advances in
20706-418: The original 1977 film. After seeing an advanced clip from the series, Zahn told StarWars.com, "even that short bit was awesome, and just a bit surrealistic. Authors don't get to see our creations come to life very often, and it was a real treat to see a walking, talking Grand Admiral Thrawn". Acknowledging that Thrawn had long been considered by Lucasfilm when developing projects, Filoni said that in particular,
20880-584: The original business plan, John Plunkett, who designed the "Manifesto", Eugene Mosier, who provided production support to create the first prototype (and later became Art Director for Production), and Randy Stickrod, who provided Rossetto and Metcalfe refuge in his office on South Park when they first arrived in San Francisco. IDG’s George Clark arranged nationwide newsstand distribution. Associate publisher Kathleen Lyman joined Wired from News Corporation and Ziff Davis to execute on its ambition to attract both technology and lifestyle advertising, and delivered from
21054-473: The original film and a new narration to retell the story, released in 1977. Most later printed novels were adapted into audio novels, usually released on cassette tape and re-released on CD. As of 2019, audio-only novels have been released not directly based on printed media. Radio adaptations of the films were also produced. Lucas, a fan of the NPR-affiliated campus radio station of his alma mater
21228-484: The other, the Grand Admiral soon immobilizes the galactic capital world, Coruscant . He has placed multiple cloaked asteroids around the planet, and through a ruse, he has led the New Republic leadership to believe that Coruscant is surrounded with them. Learning of the deception, the Republic fleet attacks the Imperial shipyards at Bilbringi to capture a device that can find the cloaked asteroids , but Thrawn's forces intercept and surround them. Meanwhile, Luke and Leia lead
21402-497: The outer reaches of the galaxy, crime syndicates such as the Hutt cartel are dominant. Bounty hunters are often employed by both gangsters and governments, while illicit activities include smuggling and slavery . The combination of science fiction and fantasy elements makes Star Wars a very universal franchise, capable of telling stories of various genres. The Star Wars film series centers around three sets of trilogies,
21576-438: The people, companies, and ideas that were part of what they called the language industries. Whole Earth Review called it "The Least Boring Computer Magazine in the World". This broader focus on the social, economic, and political issues surrounding technology became the core of the Wired editorial approach. Initial funding for Wired was provided by Eckart Wintzen , a Dutch entrepreneur. His Origin software company extended
21750-564: The planet Peridea, homeworld of the Dathomir witches, and located outside the original Star Wars galaxy. While Ezra managed to get away from him, Thrawn woke the local Nightsisters and allied with their Great Mothers, and is served by Stormtrooper Captain Enoch . Dark Jedi Baylan Skoll , his apprentice Shin Hati and a liberated Morgan Elsbeth locate Thrawn to bring him out of his exile to lead
21924-528: The post- Return of the Jedi Expanded Universe", it was also established that "creators of new Star Wars entertainment have full access to the rich content of the Expanded Universe." Acknowledging that Thrawn had long been considered by Lucasfilm when developing projects, Filoni later said in 2016 that in particular the character had been on his list of potential villains when developing Star Wars Rebels . The Thrawn trilogy, also known as
22098-423: The previous novel by publication order. A sequel to Chaos Rising , titled Thrawn Ascendancy: Greater Good , was released on April 27, 2021. The third book of the trilogy called Thrawn Ascendancy: Lesser Evil , was released on November 16, 2021. Grand Admiral Thrawn is mentioned by Ahsoka Tano in the Disney+ series The Mandalorian in " Chapter 13: The Jedi " (2020) as the master to Morgan Elsbeth ,
22272-437: The publisher put Zahn's name at the top of their list of possible authors. He said, "My original instructions from LucasArts [ sic ] consisted of exactly two rules: the books were to start 3–5 years after Return of the Jedi , and I couldn't use anyone who'd been explicitly killed off in the movies." Zahn used information from the original film trilogy as his primary source, but supplemented that with details from
22446-457: The rebels after speaking out publicly against Palpatine. In " Zero Hour ", Thrawn confronts Kallus about being Fulcrum, and executes his carefully planned attack on the rebel base on Atollon . He is thwarted by the ingenuity of the rebels and the assistance of Bendu , who cryptically warns Thrawn of his impending defeat, "like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace". In the series finale " Family Reunion – and Farewell ", Thrawn's Star Destroyer
22620-518: The remnants of the Galactic Empire. " Part Eight: The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord " culminates with Thrawn's return to the galaxy. Thrawn's Star Destroyer, the Chimaera , is depicted approaching the planet Dathomir, docked to the hyperspace ring ship Eye of Sion , following his escape from Peridea. Unbeknownst to him, Ezra stowed away onboard his ship and returned to the Republic. Thrawn appears in
22794-561: The remnants of the Imperial Fleet in a series of stunning victories against the New Republic . His full name was given as Mitth'raw'nuruodo. IGN described the character as "diabolical, brilliant and ruthless". Zahn describes Thrawn's command style as considerably different from that of Darth Vader and other typical Imperial commanders; instead of punishing failure and dissent, Thrawn promotes creativity among his crew and accepts ideas from subordinates. Zahn said in 2017: Most of
22968-405: The sale amounting to $ 50-100 million. Ultimately, the controlling investors relented, and the deal closed in June 1999 for $ 285 million. At that point, Wired Digital was also cashflow positive. Combined proceeds of the two sales exceeded the Wired Ventures valuation at the time of its failed IPO. Rossetto’s penultimate issue was five years after his first, in January 1998. Appropriately, the issue
23142-419: The sale, Wired ’s magazine and web businesses became cashflow positive. Condé Nast declined to buy Wired Digital. Four months later, Providence/Tudor sold Wired Digital to Lycos . The deal almost didn’t close. Wired Ventures’s founders and early investors threatened lawsuits against Tudor and Providence for breach of fiduciary responsibility, claiming they were engaging in unfair distribution of proceeds from
23316-431: The same fictional era, including The Book of Boba Fett , released in 2021; Ahsoka , released in 2023; and the upcoming Skeleton Crew . These series follow the plight of the New Republic and its allies against the remnants of the fallen Galactic Empire . A story focused on Obi-Wan Kenobi was planned as a film before becoming a live-action series after the box office failure of Solo in 2018. The series
23490-502: The same year, Bob Iger announced that the film would be the first release of the next slate of Star Wars movies. The Mandalorian & Grogu is scheduled for release on May 22, 2026. Lucasfilm has a number of Star Wars films in various stages of development, including: The first two animated series, Droids and Ewoks , were produced in the 1980s. They were followed by the Clone Wars animated micro-series in 2003 and
23664-462: The second season of Star Wars: Tales , titled Tales of the Empire , with Lars Mikkelsen returning to voice the character. The series focuses on the start of his partnership with Morgan Elsbeth , when Thrawn was an Admiral in the Empire. Thrawn is mentioned in the 2017 Chuck Wendig novel Star Wars: Aftermath: Empire's End as the source of the information about the Unknown Regions which Palpatine uses in his Contingency plan. This plan results in
23838-460: The sequel, Lucas decided that the series would be a trilogy of trilogies. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back was released on May 21, 1980, also achieving wide financial and critical success. The final film in the trilogy, Episode VI: Return of the Jedi , was released on May 25, 1983. According to producer Gary Kurtz, loose plans for a prequel trilogy were developed during the outlining of the original two films. In 1980, Lucas confirmed that he had
24012-667: The sequels during the 2012 sale, but in 2015 it was revealed Lucas's sequel outline had been discarded. The sequel trilogy also meant the end of the Star Wars Expanded Universe stories, which were discarded from canon to give "maximum creative freedom to the filmmakers and also preserve an element of surprise and discovery for the audience." Episode VII: The Force Awakens was released on December 16, 2015, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi on December 13, 2017, and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker on December 18, 2019, in many countries. The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi were both critical and box office successes. Episode IX received
24186-467: The series was set 25 to 30 years after the original films and introduced the Yuuzhan Vong, a powerful alien race attempting to invade and conquer the entire galaxy. The bestselling multi-author series Legacy of the Force (2006–2008) chronicles the crossover of Han and Leia's son Jacen Solo to the dark side of the Force; among his evil deeds, he kills Luke's wife Mara Jade as a sacrifice to join
24360-463: The ship and its Jedi pose a threat to the peaceful future of the galaxy. Thrawn agrees, hoping to get C'baoth to turn back before taking more drastic action. The Jedi refuses and Thrawn fires on the ship, but Doriana launches an assault that kills every Jedi and sends the Outbound Flight careening to its destruction on a nearby planet. Thrawn's brother Thrass and Lorana, the sole surviving Jedi, sacrifice their lives to save what survivors they can. Thrawn
24534-542: The stolen miners to board and hijack the ships, but they are thwarted when Lando seizes control of the miners remotely. The Grand Admiral withdraws his forces, but thanks to Thrawn's plotting, his New Republic nemesis Admiral Ackbar is soon arrested for treason. Dark Force Rising (1992) reveals that before the Clone Wars , the Old Republic had constructed a fleet of highly automated heavy cruisers , known as
24708-443: The strong sales of Star Wars comics saved Marvel financially in 1977 and 1978. Marvel's Star Wars series was one of the industry's top selling titles in 1979 and 1980. The only downside for Marvel was that the 100,000 copy sales quota was surpassed quickly, allowing Lippincott to renegotiate the royalty arrangements from a position of strength. In the late 1980s, Marvel dropped a new Star Wars comic it had in development, which
24882-488: The strongest influence on the magazine's editorial outlook came from founding editor and publisher Louis Rossetto . In 1991, Rossetto and founding creative director John Plunkett created a 12-page "Manifesto for a New Magazine", nearly all of whose ideas were realized in the magazine's first several issues. During the five years of Rossetto’s editorship, Wired 's colophon credited Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan as its " patron saint ". Wired went on to chronicle
25056-417: The style of CGI envisioned for the new trilogy. Episode I: The Phantom Menace was released on May 19, 1999, Episode II: Attack of the Clones on May 16, 2002, and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith on May 19, 2005. The first two films were met with mixed reviews, with the third being received somewhat more positively. Together with the original trilogy, Lucas has referred to the first six episodic films of
25230-595: The tenth best overall Star Wars character, noting his influence in the expanded universe, and UGO listed him as the third greatest expanded universe character the same year. Empire listed Thrawn fifth in their list of the 25 best of the more obscure Star Wars characters in 2015. In November 2016, Lars Mikkelsen was nominated for a 2017 Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement, Voice Acting in an Animated Feature Production for his portrayal of Thrawn on Star Wars Rebels . For his live-action debut in Ahsoka , Mikkelsen
25404-457: The three-part Dark Empire saga, Tales of the Jedi , Dark Lords of the Sith , the Dark Forces trilogy, and Crimson Empire (1998). Return of the Jedi was adapted into 6-episodes in 1996, featuring Daniels. The Star Wars franchise has spawned over one hundred computer, video, and board games, dating back to some of the earliest home consoles . Some are based directly on
25578-438: The title Star Wars: Master and Apprentice . Although Thrawn had been designated a Legends character in 2014, he was reintroduced into the canon in 2016 for the third season of the Rebels animated series, with Zahn returning to write more novels based on the character and set in the new canon. Marvel Comics published a Star Wars comic book series from 1977 to 1986. Original Star Wars comics were serialized in
25752-401: The traditional market space that has been opened up by new media. The magazine coined the term crowdsourcing , as well as its annual tradition of handing out Vaporware Awards, which recognize "products, videogames, and other nerdy tidbits pitched, promised and hyped, but never delivered". In these same years, the magazine also published the story, written by Joshuah Bearman, that became
25926-869: The transfer of the license to Electronic Arts . Wired (magazine) Wired (stylized in all caps ) is a monthly American magazine , published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture , the economy , and politics . Owned by Condé Nast , its editorial offices are in San Francisco, California , and its business office at Condé Nast headquarters in Liberty Tower in New York City. Wired has been in publication since its launch in January 1993. Several spin-offs have followed, including Wired UK , Wired Italia , Wired Japan , Wired Czech Republic and Slovakia and Wired Germany . From its beginning,
26100-402: The white uniform befitting his rank. He has risen in power thanks to his "tactical brilliance and cunning", and has been described as "one of the most threatening antagonists" in the Star Wars universe. He is an unparalleled military strategist and tactical genius who has made extensive study of military intelligence and the artwork of other cultures, and the Thrawn trilogy finds him commanding
26274-413: The wreckage of Outbound Flight, a Jedi expedition destroyed by Thrawn years before. Newly discovered by the Chiss, the remains turn out to be the lure in a trap laid by the bloodthirsty Vagaari to avenge themselves on the Chiss. Zahn's 2006 novel Outbound Flight is set fifty years before Survivor's Quest . It follows the story of the doomed titular expedition, led by Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth , that
26448-487: The ysalamiri, which possess the natural ability to disrupt the Force, to subdue the storehouse's guardian Joruus C'baoth , a twisted clone of a Jedi Master whom the Grand Admiral had killed years before. C'baoth offers his allegiance in exchange for two acolytes to bend to his will: Darth Vader's twin children, Luke and Leia. Thrawn sends some of his Noghri killers to capture Luke and a pregnant Leia, but their attempts repeatedly fail. Leia defends herself from one attack and
26622-574: Was a radical departure. Computer magazines carried no lifestyle advertising, and lifestyle magazines carried no computer advertising. And Wired’s target audience of “Digital Visionaries” was unknown. Wired ’s fundraising breakthrough came when they showed a prototype to Nicholas Negroponte , founder and head of the MIT Media Lab at the February 1992 TED Conference, which Richard Saul Wurman comped them to attend. Negroponte agreed to become
26796-646: Was also featured on Wired 's cover in its first year. Wired co-founder Rossetto claimed in his launch editorial that "the Digital Revolution is whipping through our lives like a Bengali typhoon", a bold statement at the time, when there were no smart phones, web browsers, and less than 10 million users connected to the Internet around the world, barely half that in the United States. Bold also describes John Plunkett’s graphic design, and its use of fluorescents and metallics. Uniquely for magazines, Wired
26970-399: Was an excellent Star Wars villain, following in the footsteps of the likes of Grand Moff Tarkin ," adding that "his status as the highest ranking non-human in the Empire was a very interesting aspect". In 2006, Zahn called Thrawn and Mara Jade his favorite of the characters he created. Zahn said in July 2016, "A writer never knows which characters are going to click with the readers, and it
27144-534: Was announced in January 2014 that in 2015 the Star Wars comics license would return to Marvel Comics, whose parent company, Marvel Entertainment , Disney had purchased in 2009. Launched in 2015, the first three publications were titled Star Wars , Darth Vader , and the miniseries Princess Leia . First announced as Project Luminous at Star Wars Celebration in April 2019, the Star Wars: The High Republic publishing initiative
27318-447: Was confirmed by savvy private investors who put $ 12.5 million into the company in May at just under the original offering stock price. They also argued that the offering price was set by the bankers, and was merited since it pioneered web media, and its revenue at Hotwired was greater than Yahoo when it went public at a higher valuation than Wired’s. For their part, Wired executives blamed Goldman for mismanaging their IPO, and then failing
27492-473: Was entitled "Change is Good", Wired's unofficial slogan. In his last issue in February, he ushered in a complete redesign of the magazine, the first since its start. Katrina Heron became Wired ’s second editor-in-chief with the March 1998 issue. Wired magazine’s new owner Condé Nast kept the editorial offices in San Francisco, but moved the business offices to New York . Wired survived the dot-com bubble under
27666-416: Was executive editor, John Plunkett creative director, and John Battelle managing editor. John Plunkett's wife and partner, Barbara Kuhr (Plunkett+Kuhr) later became the launch creative director of Wired's website Hotwired . They were to remain with Wired through the first six years of publication, 1993–98. Rossetto and Metcalfe were aided in starting Wired by Ian Charles Stewart , who helped write
27840-416: Was highly gratifying to me that Thrawn captured the imaginations of so many people over the past quarter century." The character has been on many "top" lists of Star Wars characters, praising his villainy and character. In a list of fifteen Star Wars villains, Schedeen placed Thrawn as second best, beaten by Darth Vader , focusing on his greatness as a commander and tactician. In 2008, IGN ranked him as
28014-561: Was nominated for a Critics' Choice Super Award for Best Villain in a Series in 2024. Star Wars Star Wars is an American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas , which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various films and other media , including television series , video games , novels , comic books , theme park attractions , and themed areas , comprising an all-encompassing fictional universe . Star Wars
28188-508: Was one of the first magazines to list the email addresses of its authors and contributors, the column by Nicholas Negroponte, while written in the style of an email message, surprisingly contained an obviously fake, non-standard email address. That was remedied in the second issue. Wired first mentioned the World Wide Web in its third issue, after CERN put it in the public domain in April. Subsequently, Wired focused extensively on
28362-411: Was originally planned as a film, but changed to a miniseries due to Solo underperforming at the box office. In April 2023, three new Star Wars films were announced to be set within different eras of the franchise. An untitled film written and directed by James Mangold will be set during the "dawn of the Jedi". Dave Filoni will direct a film set between the original and sequel trilogies during
28536-534: Was picked up by Dark Horse Comics and published as the popular Dark Empire series (1991–1995). Dark Horse subsequently launched dozens of series set after the original film trilogy, including Tales of the Jedi (1993–1998), X-wing Rogue Squadron (1995–1998), Star Wars: Republic (1998–2006), Star Wars Tales (1999–2005), Star Wars: Empire (2002–2006), and Knights of the Old Republic (2006–2010). After Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, it
28710-411: Was printed on a new, state of the art, high-end, six color press normally used for annual reports. The first issue covered interactive games, cell-phone hacking, digital special effects, digital libraries, an interview with Camille Paglia by Stewart Brand, digital surveillance, Bruce Sterling’s cover story about military simulations, and Karl Taro Greenfeld ’s story on Japanese otaku . And while Wired
28884-542: Was released on Disney+ in 2022 and is set between the prequel and original trilogy films. It was followed by the live-action series Andor in the same year; both series follow their titular characters during the reign of the Empire. The Acolyte is a series created by Leslye Headland set at the end of the High Republic era before the events of the Skywalker Saga , and follows an investigation into
29058-453: Was released on July 23, 2019. Set before the finale of Rebels , Thrawn: Treason features Grand Admiral Thrawn crossing paths with Director Krennic as well as the return of Eli Vanto. Chronologically, Thrawn: Treason is set between the Rebels episodes "Rebel Assault" and "Family Reunion – and Farewell." At the 2019 New York Comic Con, a new trilogy from Timothy Zahn was announced, to be entitled Thrawn: The Ascendency Trilogy , or simply
29232-422: Was revealed in a press conference in February 2020. Involving the majority of the then current officially licensed publishers, a new era set 200 years before the Skywalker Saga was explored in various books and comics. Including ongoing titles by Marvel and IDW Publishing, written by Cavan Scott and Daniel José Older respectively. Marvel Comics will publish a one-shot comic book on September 4, 2024, that bridges
29406-492: Was so new at the time, Wired hired forty engineers to write the code for its edit and ad serving software. By the end of 1995, Hotwired ranked sixth among all websites for revenue, ahead of ESPN, CNET, and CNN. The New York Times commented, " Wired is more than a successful magazine. Like Rolling Stone in the 60's, it has become the totem of a major cultural movement." With Wired magazine and Hotwired’s explosive growth, Wired expansion accelerated. By 1996, it had launched
29580-503: Was subsequently restructured to only include the existing six feature films, the animated film The Clone Wars (2008), and its companion animated series. All future projects and creative developments across all types of media would be overseen and coordinated by the story group, announced as a division of Lucasfilm created to maintain continuity and a cohesive vision on the storytelling of the franchise. Multiple comics series from Marvel and novels published by Del Rey were produced after
29754-418: Was the first website with original content and Fortune 500 advertising. Hotwired grew into a variety of vertical content sites, including Webmonkey, Ask Dr. Weil, Talk.com, WiredNews, and the search engine Hotbot. In 1997, all were rebranded under Wired Digital. The Wired.com website, formerly known as Wired News and Hotwired , launched in October 1994. The website and magazine were split in 1998, when
29928-451: Was to be the second runup in internet stocks which resulted in the 1999 dot-com bubble. In 1996, Wired Digital made up 7 percent of the company's revenues, and in 1997 it pulled in 30 percent. The unit was expected to contribute about 40 percent of revenues in 1998. Providence and Tudor had other plans, and hired Lazard Freres to shop the company. Rossetto and Metcalfe lost control of Wired Ventures in March 1998. The Street.com commented that
30102-541: Was webmaster. Convinced the Web was the future of media, and using Condé Nast’s investment, Wired bet its future by quickly expanding Hotwired into a suite of websites to include Ask Dr. Weil, Rough Guides, extreme sports, even cocktails. In 1996, it introduced its search engine HotBot in partnership with Berkeley startup Inktomi . Hotwired pioneered many of the features and techniques that would go on to define online journalism and online content creation in general. The web
30276-445: Was writing a new novel titled Star Wars: Thrawn , which was released by Del Rey Books in April 2017. According to Zahn, it was "very exciting" to write the character again, and he noted that "with this book I'll be visiting a part of his life that I never before had a chance to explore". Zahn later said, "I get to show how he's treated by his fellow officers and shipmates on his way up the military ladder, particularly when he's not in
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