[1] Set approximately five years after the events depicted in Return of the Jedi,[2] the trilogy details the offensive campaigns of military genius Grand Admiral Thrawn as he attempts to bring down the recently-founded New Republic in a bid to restore the Galactic Empire to power.

Rukh, an assassin and bodyguard for Thrawn, appears in Rebels as well as Tales of the Empire (2022), voiced by veteran Lucasfilm talent Warwick Davis—the original actor behind the Ewok character Wicket W. Warrick in films like Return of the Jedi (1983) and Caravan of Courage (1984), among others.

In Heir to the Empire (1991), master tactician Grand Admiral Thrawn plots to destroy the New Republic despite their numerical advantage over the remaining Imperial forces.

He sets his sights on the Wayland storehouse of the late Emperor Palpatine, which contains a massive array of Spaarti cloning cylinders and a working cloaking shield.

To this end, Thrawn and his subordinate Gilad Pellaeon, captain of the Star Destroyer Chimaera, enlist the help of smuggler Talon Karrde and his second-in-command Mara Jade to obtain several salamander-like creatures called ysalamiri.

Thrawn uses the ysalamiri, which possess the natural ability to disrupt the Force, to subdue the storehouse's guardian Joruus C'baoth, a twisted clone of a Jedi Master whom the Grand Admiral had killed years before.

C'baoth offers his allegiance in exchange for two acolytes to bend to his will: Darth Vader's twin children, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa.

Thrawn launches his first offensive, a series of hit-and-run attacks into New Republic territory, before stealing a complement of mole miners from Lando Calrissian's mining operations on Nkllon.

Meanwhile, Leia learns that the Noghri serve the Empire because they revere her late father, Darth Vader, who they believe saved their planet Honoghr from ecological disaster.

With Ackbar temporarily neutralized as a tactical opponent, Thrawn leads an army of clones to claim the so-called "Katana fleet", outmaneuvering Luke, Lando, and Han Solo.

Learning of the deception, the Republic fleet attacks the Imperial shipyards at Bilbringi to capture a device that can find the cloaked asteroids, but Thrawn's forces intercept and surround them.

[5] In order to provide him with existing worldbuilding material, Lucasfilm supplied Zahn with supplementary content from the tabletop RPG Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game.

The first volume was illustrated by French artists Olivier Vatine and Fred Blanchard, the second by Terry Dodson and Kevin Nowlan, and the third by Edvin Biuković and Eric Shanower.

[20] For the trilogy's 20th anniversary, Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command would be granted brand new unabridged audiobook productions, narrated by Marc Thompson and featuring official Star Wars music and sound effects.

When the rules for the Star Wars RPG changed the three volumes were collected into one book for the entire Thrawn trilogy which also served as a second edition to the original three sourcebooks.

[25] Zahn's use of supplementary material from Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game has been credited for creating a sense of unity between different publications, allowing for a more believable shared universe.

[20] The trilogy allowed Lucasfilm to expand its non-film media into the mainstream, as opposed to the more niche comic book and role-playing game markets it was previously focusing on.