Exclusive Interview: Timothy Zahn Author Of The ‘Thrawn Trilogy’
There was a lot to do and see during Dragon Con 2022 In Atlanta this year. But I had the special opportunity to sit down and meet with Timothy Zahn, one of the most prolific Star Wars novelists, for an exclusive interview about his work both inside and outside of Star Wars. It was a fantastic time sitting down to get some of his thoughts on both Star Wars and Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Here is a strange one for you, you worked on your doctorate at the University of Illinois. So to what degree does your background in physics bleed into your science-fiction writing?
Mostly, my background in physics lets me understand how science, technology, and physics work. But it does allow me to have a surprise guest sometimes with physics. For example, if I am setting up a battle, I know the battle is a basic conservation of angular momentum scene. But it also allows me to create my own science and tech more believably than if I had majored in another field.
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So you have written several books, which has been your favorite to write so far?
So basically you are asking who my favorite child is. They are all books I was excited about doing, and all came out pretty close to my vision for them. I can’t say I have a book that I wish I could go back in time and get rid of. To answer your question I would say The Icarus Hunt. And now that is a series, with the Icarus Plot and three more books under contract. If I had to think of a single Star Wars book, it’s Scoundrels, which is Solo’s 11, basically Oceans 11 in space. I am a sucker for a good heist movie.
What real-world tacticians would you say inspired you when creating the Grand Admiral?
I have read a lot of military history, but nothing in particular. People point out the similarities between Rommel and Thrawn, working for a madman like Hitler. I would say Sherlock Holmes also inspires him. He is a blend of all these great generals with none of their blind spots. So there is no one in particular when I created Thrawn; I had to figure out a way to show that he is a brilliant tactician because, in a novel, you can’t tell the audience you have to show them.. So I have to build the battles and kind of figure out a way to have both sides be smart because a dumb villain can be boring. Then, finding out how Thrawn would perceive the battle and what ideas he would have led to him coming out on top.
So, for example, one thing I try to do is put Thrawn in different scenarios. What would Thrawn have done if he was in charge of the Death Star? In my mind, the first thing is you have to listen to that guy who says there is a problem, Tarkin was too arrogant and he never would have listened. So Thrawn takes a squadron of TIE Fighters over that exhaust port. Then there are no movies 2 and 3 because everyone would’ve been dead.
Another example I use often is in Star Wars: Rebels. In season 4, there is a scene where the governor of Lothal is trying to get rid of the resident Jedi. So she blows up a bunch of fuel depots and does manage to kill the Jedi, but they lose a bunch of fuel. So what would Thrawn have done? And my thought is you see Kanan standing on top of this fuel tank. So you have the TIEs lower their turbolaser output and then shoot the tank. That way it doesn’t blow up the fuel. Instead, the lasers heat the fuel, then you fire one shot at the top of it. The pressurized fuel would create a jet of pressurized gas; you lose one fuel tank, and you kill your Jedi. It's a fair trade. A lot of it are things like that, “What would Thrawn do?'' And no I am not getting bracelets made.
When you mentioned Rebels earlier, do you have a lot of input on Thrawn’s appearances in Visual Media?
No, they did tell me about his appearances in seasons 3 and 4 of Rebels about 8 months before, and that was mostly because they wanted me to get to work on the prequel novel to those appearances, Thrawn.
So the question you aren’t asking but want to know is that I don’t know about the live-action I get crickets every time I ask. Lucasfilm is very paranoid about stuff getting leaked, and I hear Disney is worse. a 30-year track record with Lucasfilm keeping secrets still hasn’t gotten them to budge. I will see it when everyone else does.
When you wrote the original Thrawn trilogy how much collaboration did you have with George Lucas? And how has that changed after Disney's buyout?
Nothing, his people did all the collaboration. So what they would do, is send him queries as a yes or no answer. At the time, he was working on Young Indiana Jones and overseeing visual effects for Jurassic Park. The only time I met George, he mostly wanted to talk about films and how filmmakers had abandoned the seven tentpoles of cinema. I worked exclusively with his people. Now it is mostly the editor Jennifer Hale and very light contact with Dave Filoni or anyone higher up.
Do you feel that Thrawn in the new canon is the same as the EU?
He’s the same character. Filoni read the books back in the day, and he understands the character. And how to write for him. Some people say Thrawn is much more vicious in Rebels. And I will give you my analysis of one scene that is often brought up.
In the scene where Thrawn is in the factory on Lothal and he makes the saboteur ride the speeder bike until it blows up under him. People say that it doesn’t sound like Thrawn. Au Contraire, The guy has caused Imperial deaths, he is up for execution regardless. By doing it this way in front of the whole factory you send a message. If you are a saboteur this could happen to you. Even better, if you are someone who is just phoning in his job this could still happen to you too. So it delivers the judgment the Empire is going to do anyway and it sends a message to anybody else sloughing off at his job. It is very efficient and efficiency is Thrawn. I didn’t know it was coming at the time but it fits Thrawn’s character completely.
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