He’s a character with an old, old pedigree in the world of the saga, stretching back to before the first film arrived in 1977, taking inspiration from Ralph McQuarrie’s original designs for Chewbacca and (believe it or not) Dave Filoni’s cat. Delve into his history with Amy Richau writing at the official site and learn even more about Zeb, more prominent than ever thanks to appearances in The Mandalorian and The Mandalorian and Grogu.
Debuting in the 2014 animated series Star Wars Rebels, Zeb was created to be a key part of the Ghost crew, the Spectre rebel cell who later joined a unified Rebel Alliance. Gruff, tough, and soft on the inside, Zeb was the muscle for his found family.
The origin of Zeb and his species, the Lasat, takes us back to the very beginnings of Star Wars and the earliest concept designs for Wookiees. Rebels art director Kilian Plunkett noted that Zeb was one of the trickiest of the Ghost crew to design: “For a long time he was a blue Snivvian. Our final Zeb is a cross between Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept for Chewbacca and Dave Filoni’s cat.”
While finding Zeb’s voice in the recording studio, actor Steve Blum originally tried out a variety of dialects for Zeb, finally settling on a South London accent with a little Australian sprinkled in. “I was so excited to get to work on a Star Wars cartoon,” remembers Blum, who revisits the character in Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. “To get to co-create Zeb with this amazing team was beyond a fanboy’s wildest dreams.”
