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, 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." Storylines In "Steps into Shadow", Thrawn 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 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 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 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.