'That all starts with Tim Zahn's books,' he says. 'Dave Filoni says they have spoken – and are continuing to speak – with Timothy Zahn about Thrawn's character. ' Star Wars sequel author Timothy Zahn weighs in on new movie plans'. ^ a b Breznican, Anthony (November 2, 2012).'Novelist Timothy Zahn is the man who saved 'Star Wars,' according to fans'. ^ Borrelli, Christopher (May 23, 2017).In 2023, Dave Filoni confirmed during the Star Wars Celebration London that Zahn served as a creative consultant for the upcoming Disney+ miniseries Ahsoka in order to assist the creative team in writing Thrawn correctly, as Filoni felt that only Zahn could advise them with the 'right' way to adapt Thrawn as the character's creator. Zahn also wrote the young adult Dragonback series and the popular Conquerors ' trilogy. The Thrawn trilogy marked a revival in the fortunes of the Star Wars franchise, bringing it widespread attention for the first time in years all three Thrawn trilogy novels made the New York Times Best Seller List, and set the stage and tone for most of the franchise's expanded universe content. : 190–191 At the time, Zahn was writing Heir to the Empire (1991), the first book in what became known as the Thrawn trilogy, and West End in turn released sourcebooks from 1992–1994 based on Zahn's three novels.

Lucasfilm at times used some of the more detailed Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplements from West End Games as references, and West End sent boxes of their sourcebooks to Zahn when he started work on a new Star Wars novel trilogy. He is the author of the Blackcollar trilogy and the Cobra series (nine novels so far), fourteen Star Wars expanded universe novels, including thirteen novels featuring Grand Admiral Thrawn: the Thrawn trilogy, the Hand of Thrawn duology, Outbound Flight, Choices of One, Thrawn, Thrawn: Alliances, Thrawn: Treason, and the Thrawn Ascendancy trilogy.

Zahn's novella Cascade Point won the 1984 Hugo Award. Zahn, right, during a Q&A discussion at the 2018 East Coast Comicon in New Jersey

Timothy zahn specter of the past