The Mandalorian & Grogu’s New Ally Almost Lost A Hand To Darth Maul 10 Years Ago

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A major character from The Mandalorian and Grogu nearly lost a hand in a fight with Darth Maul a decade earlier, during the events of Star Wars Rebels.

The animated series centers around the close-knit group known as the Ghost crew – Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, and the droid Chopper. Their rebel group is instrumental in the formation of the wider Rebel Alliance. Zeb Orrelios recently appeared in live-action in season 3 of The Mandalorian and will be back in the upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu, where he’ll assist the main characters.

On the Pod of Rebellion podcast, writer Henry Gilroy shared that he originally planned for Maul (Sam Witwer) to cut off Zeb’s hand during season 3, episode 3, “The Holocrons of Fate.” Gilroy believed there should be consequences when the Ghost crew faced strong opponents like Maul, and this felt like a fitting moment for a serious injury. Ultimately, the scene didn’t make it into the final version because Dave Filoni thought it was excessively violent. You can hear Gilroy discuss this below:

I originally wanted Maul to cut off Zeb’s hand during their fight. My thinking was that whenever the heroes face strong opponents, there should be real consequences, and someone needs to pay the price. It felt natural that Zeb would try to overpower Maul, and Maul would respond by incapacitating him as an example. I pitched the idea, but Dave Filoni thought it was too extreme. I pointed out that an Inquisitor had already beheaded two soldiers earlier in the series, but Dave still wasn’t convinced. I even suggested we could create a cool action figure of Zeb with a robotic hand, giving us two versions to sell. Ultimately, though, I didn’t get my way.

During the episode, Maul captures Hera, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper on the Ghost and offers to trade them to Ezra and Kanan for the Sith holocron. He planned to injure Zeb—likely by severing his hand—as a demonstration of his power and to keep the prisoners under control.

In a dangerous encounter, Maul throws Kanan into space, but Kanan uses the Force to pull himself back onto the ship. After getting what he needs, Maul orders his droids to kill Hera, Sabine, Zeb, and Chopper, but Kanan returns just in time to save them. “The Holocrons of Fate” puts the crew of the Ghost in more danger than ever before, though thankfully everyone survives without any lasting physical injuries – a fortunate outcome, as Zeb nearly lost a hand.

The animated series Rebels, which originally aired on Disney XD, handles violence carefully. As pointed out by Gilroy, there’s a scene in the first season where, on orders from Governor Tarkin (voiced by Stephen Stanton), the Grand Inquisitor (Jason Isaacs) beheads two Imperial officers, Aresko and Grint (David Shaughnessy), because they repeatedly failed to capture the crew of the Ghost. The act itself isn’t shown on screen; instead, the scene focuses on the reactions of other characters present when the Grand Inquisitor activates his red lightsaber.

In the season 2 finale of Rebels, titled “Twilight of the Apprentice,” a brutal scene occurred when Maul blinded Kanan with his lightsaber, but it was depicted with a quick flash of light to avoid being overly graphic. Considering this, showing Maul actually cutting off Zeb’s hand would have been too intense. It also might have been too upsetting so soon after Kanan’s loss of sight at the end of season 2.

In the podcast, Marshall points out that the events of “The Holocrons of Fate” continue to affect the story because of how much influence Maul has over Ezra. Specifically, Maul tricks Ezra into participating in a ritual involving Jedi and Sith artifacts, creating a connection that causes problems later on.

Ten years after it first aired, the character Zeb from Star Wars Rebels will appear in the live-action movie The Mandalorian and Grogu with both of his hands – a change from his animated appearance. He’ll be assisting Din Djarin and Grogu as they battle the remnants of the Empire during the New Republic era. Dave Filoni is co-writing and executive producing the film, and he’s also a co-president and chief creative officer at Lucasfilm.

The Mandalorian and Grogu releases in theaters on May 22.

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2026-05-17 19:11