Star Wars: Is Dave Filoni Making an Heir to the Empire Movie?

Amid all the announcements at Star Wars Celebration 2023, few were as surprising or welcome as the news that The Mandalorian’s Dave Filoni is directing a live-action Star Wars movie. Filoni is overseeing a film set after the events of Return of the Jedi, and one that ties together characters from Disney+ series like The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka. It’s the big team-up we’ve all been waiting for.

Lucasfilm hasn’t given a name or release date for this new movie, but we may be able to solve one of those mysteries. Could Filoni’s film be called Star Wars: Heir to the Empire? Is this blockbuster set to adapt one of the most iconic Expanded Universe stories of all time? Let’s take a deep dive into Heir to the Empire and why it’s probably going to have a lot of influence over the new movie.

What Is Star Wars: Heir to the Empire?

Star Wars: Heir to the Empire was written by Timothy Zahn and originally published in 1991. It wasn’t the first Star Wars spinoff book to see the light of day. By that point, there had been a number of novels and a yearslong Marvel Comics series. But Heir to the Empire is one of the stories that crystallized what came to be known as the Star Wars Expanded Universe. It was one of the first stories to reveal what became of heroes like Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa after the events of Return of the Jedi.

Heir to the Empire is set five years after that movie, a time when the New Republic is trying to solidify itself as the galaxy’s ruling power. The Empire is weakened but not defeated, and that much becomes painfully apparent when Grand Admiral Thrawn emerges from hiding and begins unifying the scattered remnants of Palpatine’s military. Using a combination of secret Imperial technology, a forgotten Clone Wars-era fleet and his own strategic genius, Thrawn is able to bring the fledgling New Republic to its knees. Once again, it falls upon Luke , Leia and Han Solo to save the galaxy.

Heir to the Empire is notable for introducing several key new characters alongside Thrawn himself. This novel is where readers first meet Mara Jade, a former assassin once known as the Emperor’s Hand, and a woman with deep ties to Luke himself. It also introduces Talon Karrde, a new smuggling kingpin who rises to prominence in the wake of Jabba the Hutt’s death.

Heir to the Empire is the first act in the so-called “Thrawn Trilogy,” which also includes 1992’s Dark Force Rising and 1993’s The Last Command. Together, these three books form one of the foundational pillars of the Star Wars Expanded Universe.

The Thrawn Trilogy’s Star Wars Influence

It’s difficult to understate just how much Heir to the Empire and its sequels have influenced the Star Wars franchise. Along with Dark Horse Comics’ Dark Empire series, the Thrawn trilogy really set the tone for all post-Return of the Jedi Star Wars stories in the ‘90s. So many of these tales follow the same formula, with the New Republic trying to rebuild, only to face a new threat from an Imperial warlord intent on recreating Palpatine’s Empire.

Thrawn himself quickly became an iconic villain, one of the few Expanded Universe characters to truly rival the familiar movie faces. His fearsome intelligence and relatively nuanced motivations did and still do serve to make him stand out amid a sea of vindictive Sith Lords and space gangsters. It’s little wonder author Timothy Zahn has continued to pen new Thrawn novels over the years, both in the Expanded Universe and in the new Disney canon.

Even with Disney relegating Heir to the Empire and the rest of the Expanded Universe to “Legends” status, it’s clear these novels are continuing to have a major influence on the franchise. Thrawn himself was finally canonized in the third season of the animated series Star Wars Rebels. Now, actor Lars Mikkelsen is reprising the role in live-action for the upcoming Star Wars: Ahsoka series.

Even when it comes to the general status quo of the post-Return of the Jedi Star Wars universe, what we’re seeing in shows like The Mandalorian aligns pretty closely with what was established in Heir to the Empire. Once again, this is a period when the New Republic is struggling to restore law and order to the galaxy, even as Imperial warlords try to rally the fleet and regain power. Not everything has carried over from the Expanded Universe. Han and Leia had three children in the EU, as opposed to one son in the Disney-verse. And the Clone Wars as it’s featured in the Thrawn trilogy is a completely different conflict from the one George Lucas would establish a decade later in the Prequel movies.

For the most part, however, the era of The Mandalorian shares a lot in common with the universe of Heir to the Empire. And that may be why an Heir to the Empire movie is inevitable.

Heir to the Empire: The Movie?

The Star Wars franchise is already well on its way to laying the foundation for an Heir to the Empire movie. As we’ve discussed, the general status quo of the galaxy during the Mandalorian is extremely similar. And thanks to Rosario Dawson’s Ahsoka Tano, we know Thrawn is still lurking in the far fringes of the galaxy. The Ahsoka series is all about this former Jedi’s quest to track down Thrawn and stop the quiet but very real threat to the New Republic.

We don’t know much about Filoni’s Star Wars movie just yet, but we do know that it links together The Mandalorian, Ahsoka and all the other shows and characters set in this era of the Star Wars timeline. Everything these shows have been exploring – from the tragic fate of Mandalore to Ahsoka’s hunt for Thrawn and Ezra Bridger – is meant to pay off in one big screen adventure.

It only makes sense to frame the entire conflict around Thrawn himself. He’s the ideal villain with which to build a movie involving Din Djarin, Ahsoka, Boba Fett and the Rangers of the New Republic. He’s the last, best hope the dying Empire has to recapture its former power and put an end to the growing New Republic. We know from the Star Wars sequels that this won’t happen, but that doesn’t mean Thrawn can’t do real damage to the galaxy before he’s brought down, just like in the original Thrawn trilogy novels.

In fact, it’s possible Filoni’s movie could actually be called Heir to the Empire. Ahsoka uses that phrase to describe Thrawn in the trailer revealed at Star Wars Celebration. Lucasfilm clearly wants to invoke the classic novel as it prepares to introduce Thrawn in live-action. Not every story detail is identical, but there’s enough in common between the events of the novel and the Disney+ shows that it makes sense to adapt Heir to the Empire. With epic battles and dire stakes, there’s a reason Heir to the Empire remains one of the most beloved Star Wars novels. It’s perfect for the film treatment, and that day may finally be coming.

The Redemption of Luke Skywalker

If Filoni really is helming an Heir to the Empire movie, one of the biggest questions is whether Luke Skywalker has a part to play. Luke is definitely one of the most important characters in the novel, which is set a couple of years before he fully dedicates himself to rebuilding the Jedi Order. At this point, Luke is still traveling the galaxy and serving as one of the New Republic’s most valiant defenders.

We’ve seen Luke in both The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, the latter of which revealed Luke is in the very early stages of forming his Jedi Academy on Ossus. He’s a character with a small but important role to play in these shows, which could suggest he’s also in the running to appear in Filoni’s movie. Maybe Lucasfilm will have perfected its digital Mark Hamill recreation by that point.

Luke’s role in the Star Wars Sequels was controversial, to say the least. Not all fans were thrilled with finding out that his Jedi Academy ended in failure. Nor were they pleased to see Luke become a milk-guzzling, perpetually scowling Jedi hermit, even if he was just following in the footsteps of Yoda and Obi-Wan. Many fans have been desperate to see Luke Skywalker in his prime, fighting to preserve peace in the era of the New Republic. The Sequels couldn’t give them that, but maybe Filoni’s movie can.

Whether or not Filoni’s movie is actually called Heir to the Empire, the hope is that it can continue the example set by The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. The Star Wars franchise may have a bit of a Skywalker obsession, but this is one case where Luke’s presence makes sense. Show us Luke Skywalker at his best and most heroic. Give us a cinematic team-up between Luke and Ahsoka. With a villain as imposing as Grand Admiral Thrawn, the galaxy needs its greatest heroes to win the day.

Be sure to check out our full breakdown of everything announced at Star Wars Celebration 2023.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.