There’s been a lot of questions surrounding Matt Smith and his involvement in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but I believe I may have figured out who he’s playing in the movie: Grand Admiral Thrawn.
OK, so before many of you scoff and ‘change the website’, let me explain why I believe this could be the case, because the more I think about it, the more it makes sense.
First off, there have been rumours that Matt Smith might be playing someone who’s very close to the Emperor in the movie (should he even be in it).
Thrawn (his Chiss name is Mitth’raw’nuruodo) was very close to the Emperor in the Thrawn books, and even in Star Wars Rebels. He and Grand Moff Tarkin were the only two ’employees’ he really had any respect for because he realised how intelligent and useful they were.
Matt Smith might be playing Thrawn in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Could Matt Smith be playing Grand Admiral Thrawn in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? – Credit: Lucasfilm
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Thrawn was very different from anyone in the whole Empire. He was a formidable tactician and a great fighter.
Thrawn is a Chiss, a species who are famed to be great warriors. Clever, resourceful, proud and intensely loyal to one another. They live in the Unknown Regions, yet Thrawn was persuaded to join the Empire and eventually became a Grand Admiral in the Emperor’s army.
Anyway, the last we saw of Thrawn was in the TV show, Star Wars Rebels, when he and Ezra Bridger were blasted into Hyperspace together by a load of space whales (yeah, that actually happened), and we don’t know what happened to them after that.
One possibility is that they ended up in the Unknown Regions together, and that means that they could end up turning up in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
Bridger could end up helping Rey in her battle against the Emperor, and Thrawn could be the reason the Emperor is still alive.
Is Thrawn still alive in the Star Wars universe?
Grand Admiral Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels – Credit: Lucasfilm
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I think this would be incredibly ‘fan-service-y’, but that might be exactly what Star Wars fans need right now.
Imagine the roar if Matt Smith turned out to be playing Thrawn, and it would explain why Disney and Lucasfilm have been so coy about revealing whether he’s in the film or who he’s playing.
I had come up with a theory that Matt Smith could be playing Ezra Bridger, but I’m not so sure that will be the case because Smith is wrong for the role.
That said, he would make a perfect Thrawn. He has the angular facial features and would be able to do that very monotone voice. I’m sure of it.
There’s only one glaring problem with Matt Smith as Thrawn is that the character would be quite old now, and Smith isn’t quite the right age.
Richard E. Grant would have been perfect for Thrawn, but Matt Smith would be good too
Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader didn’t get on too well in the Thrawn books – Credit: Lucasfilm
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That’s probably why people were so sure that Richard E. Grant would be playing Thrawn when he was cast in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.
However, he’s going to be playing Allegiant General Pryde, which sounds like a really interesting role, but I would have loved to have seen him play Thrawn.
Grant certainly has the right look for Thrawn and is about the right age, depending on how the Chiss age, which is actually something I’m not sure about.
It is possible that the Chiss could age a lot slower than other species in the Star Wars universe, which means that either Smith or Grant could be able to play the role.
Personally, I’m thinking that Smith will be in the movie, there’s just too much evidence pointing at that fact.
The fact that he, Lucasfilm and Disney have all been dodging questions over his involvement leads me to believe that he’s playing someone who the fans will already be familiar with.
Star Wars fans would love to see Thrawn in the Star Wars movies
Star Wars fans would go nuts if Matt Smith was playing Thrawn in The Rise of Skywalker – Credit: Lucasfilm
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Thrawn, therefore, fits the bill. He’s someone that the fans love. I still remember the sheer level of volume in the room when Dave Filoni announced that Thrawn was going to be in Star Wars Rebels.
The character is a huge fan favourite and people will lose their minds if they got to see a live-action version of him.
I’m also pretty confident that they would like to see an actor of Matt Smith’s calibre to play the role.
What do you make of this theory? Do you think that Matt Smith could be playing Grand Admiral Thrawn in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? If not, who could be playing, or has he been telling the truth and he won’t be in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker? Let us know in the comments below.
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