10 years before The Mandalorian and Grogu, one of the movie's key characters almost lost a hand to Darth Maul in Star Wars Rebels.
The animated series follows the Ghost crew found family of Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray), Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall), Sabine Wren (Tiya Sircar), Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios (Steve Blum), and Chopper (Dave Filoni), with their rebel cell playing a pivotal role in shaping the larger Rebel Alliance. Zeb made his live-action debut in The Mandalorian season 3 and is in The Mandalorian and Grogu, where he will be helping the two titular characters.
On the Rebels rewatch podcast Pod of Rebellion, writer Henry Gilroy revealed that in season 3, episode 3, "The Holocrons of Fate," he intended for Maul (Sam Witwer) to cut off Zeb's hand. Gilroy explained that he felt as though there should be a cost when the Ghost crew encountered powerful characters like Maul and that it made sense in the context of the episode. Maul's violent act didn't end up in the finalized script, though, as Filoni felt it was too violent. Check out Gilroy's comments below:
I had Maul cut off Zeb's hand. Look, every time we run into these powerful characters, there has to be a cost. You can't just let the family get away scot-free. It made sense to me that Zeb, during the fight with him, would be like, "Yeah, I'm going to strangle this guy," and Maul going like, "Okay, the most dangerous of you three is this guy and I need to make an example of him." So, I had Maul cut off Zeb's hand and Dave [Filoni] said, "Absolutely not. It's way too violent." I said, "Wait a minute! You had an Inquisitor chop off two Imperial guys' heads in season 1. Why can't I do this?" And I'm going, "And we'll get the benefit of battle-damaged Zeb as an action figure, so there'll be two action figures, like one with robot hand Zeb. Anyway, I lost that.
In the episode, Maul takes Hera, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper captive aboard the Ghost and claims he will turn them over to Ezra and Kanan in exchange for the Sith holocron. It was during this point that Zeb presumably would have had his hand severed, with Maul making an example out of him to better control the prisoners.
Maul does throw Kanan out of an airlock and into space, with the Jedi only surviving after using the Force to pull himself back onto the ship. Once Maul gets what he wants, he also commands his droids to execute Hera, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper, and they are only saved by Kanan's timely return. "The Holocrons of Fate" brings the Ghost crew closer to death than usual, but they all survive and walk away physically unscathed, which would not have been the case if Zeb had lost one of his hands.
As an animated series largely that originally aired on Disney XD, Rebels walks a fine line with its violence. As alluded to by Gilroy, there is a scene in season 1 where, at the behest of Governor Wilhuff Tarkin (Stephen Stanton), the Grand Inquisitor (Jason Isaacs) decapitates the Imperial officers Aresko and Grint (David Shaughnessy) after their repeated failures to apprehend the Ghost crew. The actual violence is not shown, though, with the scene instead focusing on the reactions of other characters in the room after the Grand Inquisitor's red lightsaber is ignited.
Henry Gilroy was a writer for 18 episodes of Star Wars Rebels, 21 episodes of The Clone Wars, and The Clone Wars movie.
During the Rebels season 2 finale, "Twilight of the Apprentice," another particularly violent moment occurs when Maul uses his lightsaber to blind Kanan, but it's done in a flash of white light that doesn't make the moment graphic. Based on this precedent, actually showing Maul cut off Zeb's hand off would have been too violent. It also may have been too traumatic to happen so soon after Kanan lost his eyesight at the end of season 2.
On the podcast, Marshall does argue that there is still lasting damage done in "The Holocrons of Fate" due to the impact that Maul has on Ezra. Maul convinces Ezra to be pulled into a ritual with the Jedi and Sith holocrons, forming a connection that comes back with haunting consequences in a later episode.
A decade after this Star Wars Rebels episode was released, Zeb will now be appearing with both hands intact in the live-action movie The Mandalorian and Grogu, as he helps the beloved duo take on the Imperial Remnant in the age of the New Republic. Filoni is a co-writer and executive producer on the film, along with now being the co-president and chief creative officer at Lucasfilm.
The Mandalorian and Grogu releases in theaters on May 22.
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