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 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 the expanded universe was 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 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. Thrawn trilogy (1991–1993) The Thrawn trilogy, also known as 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 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), master tactician Grand Admiral Thrawn plots