
Star Wars readers got great news today when Del Rey Books announced the new Thrawn: Ascendancy trilogy release date is set a month earlier than expected!
The first book in the new series is titled Chaos Rising and will officially be available to readers on September 1st, 2020! As a bonus, the Twitter link above includes a narrated preview by voice actor Marc Thompson. You may recognize the name from Timothy Zahn‘s previous Thrawn novels-turned-audiobook and many other animated series. Zahn’s blue Chiss villain has become a massive fan favorite of the Star Wars pantheon of characters, and while we still haven’t seen him on the big screen yet, this new book trilogy continues his story with the first installment, Chaos Rising.
Who Is The Narrator? Meet Marc Thompson
Marc Thompson has been a voice actor for years and got his shot at Star Wars books back in 2007 with the EU Legends series Star Wars: Legacy of the Force. His voice has also brought countless anime and animated series characters to life starting back in 1997. Here’s an introduction of the Star Wars voices he can do. His Thrawn voice is spot-on. While that isn’t in this video below, you can get a sample of his other Star Wars voices here (His Chewbacca is actually pretty darn good!). Check it out:
Timothy Zahn and Thrawn
“First, it was to be July. Then, it was to be May. Then, it was to be October. Now, the actual, final, positively unchanging release date for THRAWN ASCENDANCY BOOK 1: CHAOS RISING is September 1, 2020. Never let it be said that Thrawn allowed himself to become predictable.”
Timothy Zahn on Facebook

Homage is always paid to George Lucas for imagining this awesome galaxy far, far away, but credit where it’s due. Zahn’s Thrawn character and on-point story telling is an amazing secondary credit. Many fans consider the first Thrawn trilogy (shown below) to be the true sequel series after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. While aspects of the trilogy were incorporated into Episodes 7-9, the books are relegated to the EU Legends category.

Also read – List: The Top 10 Best EU Legends Books!
Zahn’s next trilogy for Thrawn is canon, and so is his animated arc on Star Wars: Rebels. Do you think we’ll ever get Thrawn on the big screen? Perhaps on Disney Plus? We’ll have to wait and see!

Are you excited about the new Thrawn trilogy? We sure are! To learn more about Star Wars, you can also visit the official website at www.starwars.com, and to stay up to date on all your geek pop culture news and reviews, stay with That Hashtag Show!
I was a bit disappointed that we still don’t have Thrawn’s story post-silly space whale, but the first book of the new trilogy quickly made me forget about that little issue. Chaos Rising flowed as smooth as any of Zahn’s EU books and, by the time I was finished, I found myself immediately wanting part 2! Thrawn needs to be in a live action…ANYTHING…but until then, what a treat! Bring on book 2!