Star Wars: Episode VIII THEORY - Is Benicio Del Toro Playing Grand Admiral Thrawn?

2. Is This A Good Thing?

On the face of it, del Toro being Thrawn is incredible. For the longest time (right up until Disney entered the fray really), the Thrawn trilogy was treated as an unofficial Sequel Trilogy, to the point that, when it was finally announced we'd finally get an Episode VII, a strong contingent of die-hard fans were keen to see the new movies follow Zahn's lead. In terms of drawbacks, there is obviously the Khan parallel - this would make Episode VIII a spiritual successor to Star Trek Into Darkness, bringing back an iconic character with a new twist, which isn't a comparison some would be happy to make (funnily enough, del Toro was at one point linked to the role that ultimately went to Benedict Cumberbatch) - although that's just the tip of a bigger issue. Because of the nature of adaptation, how much Episode VIII's Thrawn would be the Thrawn we all know and loved is unclear, and that could reduce this to an exercise in fan-baiting based on iconography (a complaint commonly levelled against the original-obsessed prequels). We've seen Marvel, another Disney owned company dilute and alter their villains on screen to the point where they barely qualify as the same character, and while it's a long way to suggest Lucasfilm would do anything close with the Grand Admiral, it's something worth bearing in mind if things do wind up going in this direction.