Wullf Yularen: Star Wars Character Spotlight

Welcome to the latest entry in our Star Wars Character Spotlight series. Here, we take the opportunity to highlight the supporting and tertiary characters that pop up across the various Star Wars eras, who deserve a bit of love. We’ll look at each character’s highlights and think about where they might pop up in future Star Wars stories.

This week, we’re giving the spotlight to Admiral Wullf Yularen.

Like Grand Moff Tarkin, Wullf Yularen is a character who made his debut in A New Hope and had his history fleshed out in stories spanning the Clone Wars and the Reign of the Empire. He only appeared in a single scene – that boardroom with a collection of high ranking Imperial officers sat around the table visited by Tarkin and Darth Vader – but he never spoke and we don’t even know the name of the actor who played him.

It wasn’t until The Clone Wars animated movie that creators looked to flesh out the character, when he was voiced by Tom Kane, and he recently made his live action return in Andor, portrayed by Malcolm Sinclair.

Serving the Republic

Wullf Yularen’s earliest chronological appearance is in the Clone Wars, both in the animated movie and the series. When the Clone Wars first began, he was approached by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine himself (having worked with him in the Senate Bureau of Intelligence, according to an issue of Build Your Own X-Wing in 2020) and recruited to the Republic Navy as an admiral after an initial early retirement.

Yularen became the Republic’s youngest ever admiral, and was assigned to Anakin Skywalker serving aboard the Resolute. Therefore, most battles in the series featuring Anakin usually meant Yularen would show up too. He was initially frustrated with the Jedi and skeptical of their ability to win battles, but they gradually won him over.

He was involved in many battles in season 1, such as the hunt for General Grievous’ secret warship the Malevolence, the Battle of Quell (which was a loss but he saved his ship from total destruction) and the Battle of Ryloth, where he worked with Ahsoka and Anakin to defeat the Separatist fleet. By the end of season 1, he learned to trust the Jedi and their unorthodox methods in battle.

During the Battle of Christophsis in season 2 (which takes place before most of the events of season 1), Yularen had initially struggled to break through Admiral Trench’s defences to provide aid to Bail Organa’s forces on the planet and accompanied Anakin on a stealth shuttle ride to the planet’s surface to deliver the aid. He didn’t much appreciate Anakin’s reckless flying, but respected and admired his skills as a pilot.

In season 2, Yularen led Republic forces at the second Battle of Geonosis and the Battle of Saleucami, another hunt for General Grievous. In season 3, he led the Battle of Sullust in which Asajj Ventress was betrayed by Count Dooku after nearly killing Obi-Wan and Anakin. He makes a couple of appearances in the show’s fifth season, at the beginning of the D-Squad arc, and attends the funeral for the Jedi Temple bombing at the end of the season. He then returned for a couple of minor appearances in the series’ seventh and final season.

He also played a minor role in the Dark Disciple novel, providing information to the Jedi Council that persuaded them to mount a rescue mission for fallen Jedi Master Quinlan Vos.

All of these events make it clear that Admiral Yularen was a respected member of the Republic. His friendly relationship with Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi made it seem like he was an honorable man, but his career path and decisions taken during the Reign of the Empire make it clear that wasn’t the case.

The Empire and the Imperial Security Bureau (ISB)

After Order 66 and the rebranding of the Republic to the Galactic Empire, Wullf Yularen decided to continue to serve the organization he had done so faithfully throughout the Clone Wars, a company man through and through. It wasn’t necessarily an honorable move, but it perhaps shows his loyalty, even though it was misplaced.

In the early days of the Empire, Yularen remained as an Admiral and led a few campaigns against pirates in the Corporate Sector. But he felt his military days were behind him, and transferred to the ISB instead, where he first served as a colonel.

He appeared in the Tarkin novel, liaising with then-Moff Tarkin over an attack on an Imperial base and a response to a former Republic Intelligence Officer’s attempts to take down the Empire. Palpatine was so impressed with his efforts that he promoted him to Deputy Director of the ISB.

Yularen made his grand return to live action after a 44-year absence in Andor season 1. We see him make an impassioned speech to the ISB officers in the wake of the Aldhani heist carried out by Cassian Andor. He planned a response that he hoped would shock any potential criminals by its severity, using fear to scare them out of further action against the Empire.

He introduced a tribute tax of five times the amount of money stolen from Aldhani that would be sanctioned on any planet discovered to be harboring rebels, likely bankrupting most planetary governments. He also stated that if any local event was used as cover for rebel activity, it would result in “permanent revocation of Imperial tolerance”, meaning the full might of the Empire would come down on the “guilty” party. Whether that would be the criminals in question or the planet as a whole is unclear.

He also had a bill passed that made it a “Class One offence” to commit any crime that affected the Empire in any way, meaning maximum punishment would be doled out no matter the severity of the crime.

It’s certainly a method out of the Imperial playbook, but it is saddening to see it used by a man who used to serve alongside Jedi with distinction. Interestingly though, he considered the Aldhani raid a criminal heist and failed to recognize it for what it actually was; the first successful major rebel operation. Another ISB officer, Dedra Meero, saw it clearly though, and persuaded Yularen to reluctantly provide her with the funds to root out the source of the rebel activity, though he didn’t truly believe such activity existed. This inability to spot acts of rebellion would become a recurring theme of his time with the Empire.

Rise of the Rebel Alliance

During this time, Yularen frequently checked on the progress of his star pupil from the Imperial Academy, Agent Kallus. Kallus was tasked with hunting the Spectre rebel cell (Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla et al) in Star Wars Rebels and Yularen largely left him to it, though his operations seemed to fail at every attempt to capture or kill them.

Yularen also had a significant role to play in the Thrawn novel, where he was impressed by the junior Chiss officer’s tactical acumen. He hitched his flag to Thrawn’s wagon and introduced him to many other high ranking Imperial officials, helping him to climb the Empire’s ranks. Though sometimes he was skeptical of Thrawn’s more radical tactics, they always paid off and won his respect for the Chiss. He likely put in a good word to assist Thrawn’s ascension to Grand Admiral.

He made his first appearance in Star Wars Rebels to help with Thrawn’s search for the Rebel informant Fulcrum, who at this point was none other than his prize pupil Agent Kallus. Yularen actually fell for Kallus’ attempts to frame another officer as the informant, only for Thrawn to accurately deduce and prove that it was Kallus all along, accusing Yularen of allowing his fondness for Kallus to deceive him. It’s the second time we’ve seen Yularen deceived by rebel activity.

Death Star

By the time of A New Hope (his original appearance), Wullf Yularen had been made a Grand Admiral and was posted on the Death Star. He didn’t say a word during Tarkin and Vader’s meeting with the other moffs and admirals, and was on board the battle station when it was destroyed in the Battle of Yavin, ending his life.

It meant that a once honorable man ended up getting what he deserved, having spent the best part of two decades serving as a tyrannical member of the Galactic Empire.

What next?

It seems likely that Wullf Yularen will play a small role in Andor season 2 next year (possibly opposite Ben Mendelson’s returning Orson Krennic, but otherwise there’s not much more left to tell of his story. It’s possible that he might appear in any new stories set in the Clone Wars or Reign of the Empire eras, but surely any such appearances would be minor.

When do you think we’ll next see Wullf Yularen in Star Wars? Let us know in the comments.