Rukh first appeared in the 1991 Star Wars novel Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn, the same book that introduced readers to Grand Admiral Thrawn. Rukh’s visual depiction has varied greatly over the decades – some illustrations have him as an enormous, gray hulking creature while others have him smaller and wiry as the novel describes. This episode is his first appearance in cinematic content.

When Timothy Zahn first developed his trilogy of novels, he had pitched the idea of Rukh being a member of a species called the Sith, as a way of explaining just what exactly it meant for Darth Vader to be a “Dark Lord of the Sith.” This was before it was common knowledge that the Sith were a dark side sect opposed to the Jedi. Lucasfilm rejected this idea, and instead Zahn invented the Noghri species.

This episode marks the debut of Governor Pryce in combat armor, following the previous roll-out of Tarkin and Thrawn in similar gear, all based on General Veers’ look from The Empire Strikes Back.

The spiritual secrets locked within Lothal, which are hinted at in his episode by the mysterious abilities of the Loth-wolves, builds upon a warning Governor Maketh Tua spoke about just prior to her demise at the start of Season Two.