The Reason This A-List Actor Will Not Be Playing Thrawn
Grand Admiral Thrawn is one of the fan favorite villains of Star Wars. When he was introduced as the main villain of Timothy Zahn's novel trilogy in the early 1990s, he left quite an impression on many readers. He appeared in later books, as well as the more recent canonical books by Zahn that have tied into the animated series Star Wars Rebels. Oh, and he appeared in Star Wars Rebels as well, acting as the main villain during seasons 3 and 4. At the end of that series, Thrawn was taken to parts unknown, thanks to Ezra getting help from the purrgil (space whales). More recently, Thrawn was name-dropped in The Mandalorian episode "The Jedi," in which Ahsoka Tano appears and asks where Thrawn is. This seems to tease that he will play a major role in the upcoming Ahsoka series.
With all of this excitement over the prospect of Thrawn making a live-action debut, fans have been fancasting various actors as the character. Some want Lars Mikkelsen to play the role since he has done the voice so well in the animated material. However, there are some fans who have been wanting to see Benedict Cumberbatch in the role. Known for his roles as the titular characters of Sherlock and Doctor Strange, Cumberbatch is a favorite among fans who have been wanting him to appear in Star Wars one way or another. Some believe that he would be a great fit for Grand Admiral Thrawn.
In a recent interview with Collider, the actor was asked whether he would be interested in playing Grand Admiral Thrawn, and his response paints a picture as to why he would not want to play the character.
"COLLIDER: There’s a lot of people that would like you to play a character called Grand Admiral Thrawn, and I’m just curious if you’ve heard people saying this because I could see you playing this role.
CUMBERBATCH: Grand Admiral Thrawn? Does he turn into Peter Cushing, or something? Is that…?
COLLIDER: No. He’s blue. He’s a very cool character that’s a villain… you’d be under a blue makeup thing. I’m just curious if you’d heard about it.
CUMBERBATCH: That’s a straight no from me, right now. There’s no way I want to be turned blue. I turned the air blue, very recently. No no, seriously, I have precious time with my children and I think sitting in a makeup chair and being painted blue, and the amount of time it would take to do that and then take it off at the end of the day might just… it’s not the right time in my life for that."
So it seems that Cumberbatch is off the table as far as far as possible Grand Admiral Thrawn actors go. One could argue that perhaps he is being as secretive as he was when he rather controversially portrayed Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek Into Darkness. However, it sees highly likely that Cumberbatch is probably not playing Grand Admiral Thrawn, so fans hoping for this fancast should not hold their breaths.
However, this does not mean that Grand Admiral Thrawn will not appear in live-action form at all. Given the recent namedrop, it is pretty much guaranteed that the character will appear at some point. He will just be portrayed by a different actor. Hopefully, whoever plays him can convey the spirit of the character as fans have come to know him over the years. For now, we will just have to wait for an official confirmation, whether it be via an announcement from Lucasfilm themselves or simply by watching events unfold on our screens in one of the upcoming series.
Source(s): Collider