Grand Admiral Thrawn
Though in "Legends" works Thrawn was mostly used in post-"Return of the Jedi" storylines, "Rebels" takes place within the five years before the events of the original 1977 film. After seeing an advanced clip from the series, Zahn told StarWars.com, "even that short bit was awesome, and just a bit surrealistic. Authors don't get to see our creations come to life very often, and it was a real treat to see a walking, talking Grand Admiral Thrawn".