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Earlier this year, Timothy Zahn revisited his most popular contribution to the lore of Star Wars in Thrawn, a novel that brought Grand Admiral Thrawn into the post-Expanded Universe era. At New York Comic Con‘s Lucasfilm Publishing panel, Zahn revealed that he’s far from finished with Thrawn.

Via StarWars.com, Zahn announced that he has finished writing Star Wars: Thrawn Alliances, a novel that will explore Thrawn’s rise in the Imperial military as well as his unlikely partnership with Darth Vader. It is expected to be released in summer 2018, and it will be the first time that Thrawn and Vader have shared the spotlight. However, the previous Thrawn novel indicated that he had met Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars.

There are still a lot of unanswered questions about Thrawn’s place in the new timeline, since the events of the Heir to the Empire trilogy have been purged from continuity. That begs the question of whether Thrawn was still around during the events of the classic trilogy, and if he survived to see the post-Return of the Jedi era. It’s not impossible, but we haven’t seen any signs of his survival one way or another.

The publishing panel also revealed a few other projects that may excite Star Wars fans. IDW is publishing a Star Wars: Forces of Destiny five-issue miniseries, while Adam Rex is working on Are You Scared Darth Vader?, a new Star Wars children’s book. Just from the title alone, we think we’re going to love Rex’s newest creation when it arrives in July 2018.

Are you looking forward to reading about Thrawn and Vader’s history together? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Images: Disney XD/IDW/Lucasfilm

Don’t be blue, read more about Thrawn!

• A villainous Thrawn tattoo.
• What’s next for Thrawn in Star Wars Rebels.
• The possibilities of the Unknown Regions.