This calendar week ’s episodeof The Mandalorian was all about set the stage , and the stakes , for an explosive ending toa very mixed time of year three . But it also await to Star Wars ’ future with the bearing of a face very intimate to fans of the onetime Expanded Universe .
The opening of “ The Spies ” sees a returned Moff Gideon , freed from New Republic detainment , address his fellow Imperial Remnant commandant as part of the Shadow Council , the mishmash of Imperial officer , warlord , and spymaster that tries to keep what ’s left of the Empire ’s crumbling presence together in the wake of Return of the Jedi . There ’s a few familiar epithet among the council ’s fellow member , but one in particular at once stands out : Captain Gilad Pellaeon , making his live - natural action debut , as an perfervid champion of the replication ofGrand Admiral Thrawnas the drawing card the Empire needs to be reborn .
Who Is Captain Pellaeon?
Gilad Pellaeon was first introduce in Timothy Zahn ’s 1991 novel Heir to the Empire . It ’s the first book in the iconic “ Thrawn Trilogy ” that formally kicked off what would add up to be known as theStar Wars Expanded Universe , the transmedia exploration of events beyond the original and prequel trilogies that was strike out as “ Star Wars Legends ” when Disney win Lucasfilm andcontinuity was rebootedin 2012 .
A headwaiter in the Imperial Navy , Pellaeon was Thrawn ’s second - in - command in his run to defeat the nascent New Republic and bushel the Empire to galactic extrusion . But although Thrawn would perish at the climax of the net book in the trilogy , The Last Command , Pellaeon go away on to have a much longer and critical role in the future tense of what would become known as the Imperial Remnant , throughout the EU ’s history .
Has Captain Pellaeon Appeared in Current Canon Before?
While Xander Berkeley ’s depiction in “ The Spies ” is the first sentence that Pellaeon has come along in hot - action Star Wars stuff , it is not the first time the type has appeared in the rebooted Star Wars canon . In the last instalment ofStar Wars Rebels , Pellaeon makes a brief audio - only cameo appearing , as Thrawn petition to speak with him before contact is reduce off by the arrival of the Purrgil ( who we in short see inthis time of year ’s premiere ) . voice there by Jim Cummings , Pellaeon ’s chronicle in the novel canyon would eventually be fleshed out by Thrawn and Pellaeon ’s Jehovah , author Zahn , in the trilogy of Thrawn novel he indite portray the Chiss ’ procession to prominence before the issue of Rebels .
“ I just wanted to mention the name so it amaze in there , so it ’s something people can utilize , ” Dave Filonitold io9 solely in 2018 . “ And sometimes that ’s what I can do for thing that come out of Legends . I could make just another captain with some name there or I could put someone like Pellaeon in play . And then maybe he gets beak up in comics or novels , I do n’t recognize . But I retrieve that would be kind of merriment to do , and it ’s a style to get that idea rolling . ”
Turns out , he was just waiting for himself to get that idea rolling .
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
What Happened to Captain Pellaeon in the Old Expanded Universe?
After Thrawn ’s assassination at the Battle of Bilbringi — toss off by his Noghri escort , Rukh , alsoalready re - introducedinto Star Wars canon in Rebels — Pellaeon becomes the de facto leader of his force , control a retreat to the edges of the Unknown Regions . Not wanting to descend into the infighting of the Imperial Warlords that move up to prominence in the wake of the Empire ’s downfall , and pull on avenging his commander in one last stand , Pellaeon finally returned Thrawn ’s force to the re - established Imperial Ruling Council .
Things descended into chaos once again when the Empire broke into civil war after a surprise re - pickings of Coruscant from the New Republic . With the return , and 2nd dying , of Emperor Palpatine during theevents of Dark Empire , Pellaeon watched as the hope of Imperial unity seemingly dissolved before his eyes — until fellow Imperial Navy officerAdmiral Natasi Daalaexecuted a swath of big warlords advert a meeting arranged by herself and Pellaeon in an endeavour to reform the Empire , only to see it threaten to be destroyed entirely by the warlords ’ greed . Together , Daala and now Vice Admiral Pellaeon consolidated the warlords ’ forces into a singular might , destroying those who did n’t take to their new vision for the Empire . Eventually choose to begin their campaign against the New Republic by assaulting the converted Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 , Pellaeon and Daala find themselves spectacularly defeated by the Jedi free-base there , Daala resigned her leading role and sprain to Pellaeon as the novel leader of the Empire .
Pellaeon drew his forces from the core of the galaxy into the Mid and Outer Rim , and the continue Grand Moffs formed a new harness council to make the next government of the Empire , now officially the Imperial Remnant , liaising with Pellaeon as the Supreme Commander of the Empire ’s military forces . Pellaeon press the leftover to pace away from some of the barbarous excesses of Palpatine ’s Empire , abolish thraldom and continuing Daala ’s crusade to recruit non - human and non - male beingness into its service . After years of campaign against the New Republic , it was Pellaeon that sued for ataraxis , believing that if the Remnant just remained in its current power balance it could stay its fourth dimension for the New Republic to fall through other means , and be well train to take its place . sign the Bastion Accords after a prolonged dialogue with Leia Organa - Solo , Pellaeon ushered in the formal last of the Galactic Civil War 19 year after the Battle of Yavin .
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
The Remnant , with Pellaeon at its promontory , help oneself the New Republic conflict against the invasion of theYuuzahn Vong , and eventually after the oddment of the Vong invasion — and the decline of both the New Republic and the Remnant as entity , reform into the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances — he retired from service . Pellaeon eventually exited retirement to become sovereign commander of the Alliance ’s Defense Force , but as the Swarm Crisis and the second Galactic Civil War upended the Galactic Alliance , decades after his former commander had suffered a similar fate , Pellaeon was assassinated by the Sith apprentice Tahiri Veila , at the behest ofDarth Caedus — the fallen Jedison of Han and Leia , Jacen Solo — after Pellaeon refused to support Caedus ’ attempt to take over the Galactic Alliance .
What Does Captain Pellaeon Mean for Star Wars’ Future?
The obvious thing , of trend , is that Pellaeon is a precursor : as we can already see from his abbreviated appearance here , where Pellaeon goes , he ’s damn well hoping Thrawn will follow to take the tip . That have in mind whatever is planned forThrawn in Ahsoka , and likely theImperial Remnant vs. New Republic movieDave Filoni is cooking up , Pellaeon will likely be a part of it , side - by - side with his entrust comrade .
But is there a possible action that Pellaeon is more than the current canon ’s pre - Thrawn appetizer , and could portion out a familiar fate to his EU predecessor — tasked with leading a post - Thrawn remnant as it raise and evolves to tally the galaxy ’s change landscape painting ? It ’s hard to say . The almost immediate arrival of the First Order , in the tremendous secular strategy of thing , make water it difficult for the Imperial Remnant to persist in the variety of way of life it did in the EU before it ’s essentially absorbed into it . And given that Pellaeon was nowhere to be find in what we ’ve seen of the First Order in the sequel trilogy , then perhaps he ’ll meet the same fate as his commander soon enough .
But doing what the Expanded Universe did , eventually having to grow Pellaeon beyond his lineal association with Thrawn , could be fertile ground for Star Wars to take — and give us a chance to see the entanglement of the Empire ’s yesteryear , and the First Order ’s future tense , through the eye of one of the old EU ’s most challenging characters .
Screenshot: Lucasfilm
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