Lucasfilm/Ralph McQuarrie When Star Wars Rebels debuted in 2014, it quietly launched a new era of Star Wars canon. While The Force Awakens would continue the mainline saga after Return of the Jedi, the aim of Rebels was to tell new stories well after The Clone Wars and before A New Hope. These days, that time period is fairly crowded (Solo, Andor, et al.), but at the time, the Rebellion’s early heroes were brand new. Many of the Rebels crew have appeared in live-action since then, most notably in Ahsoka Season 1. And now, after making a brief live-action debut in The Mandalorian Season 3, one fan-favorite Rebels character is finally getting to kick ass the way we always imagined.The first full scene from The Mandalorian and Grogu has been released, and regardless of what the fandom thinks of it as a whole, it does show us what Zeb will look like in the movie. If you’re a fan of Rebels, this is a huge win. Here’s why. Mandalorian and Grogu footage, explained On April 22, new footage from The Mandalorian and Grogu revealed what appears to be a major chase scene. In it, Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) tries to get Grogu to press the correct switches on a landspeeder to shake off some pursuers. For those who don’t like the sub-genre of clueless-Star-Wars-character-presses-the-right-buttons-and-saves-the-day, this scene won’t win anyone over. There are shades of young Anakin from The Phantom Menace, or even Jar Jar Binks. Reactions to this scene are already mixed, and it seems the hype for Mando & Grogu varies from fan to fan (Inverse’s own Lyvie Scott was skeptical, but is very optimistic after a set visit). But while some fans might agree that this chase scene isn’t the greatest thing in the world, what’s the one thing it gets right? That element is Garazeb Orrelios.Why Zeb Looks Great in the Mando Footage Captain Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) and Zeb (Steve Blum) in The Mandalorian Season 3. | LucasfilmStill voiced by Steve Blum, who provided the voice of Zeb in Rebels, the character’s big-screen debut is actually his second appearance in the live-action Star Wars universe. Back in 2023, Zeb appeared in the Season 3 Mandalorian Episode called “Chapter 21: The Pirate,” in which he was just standing around at a bar chatting with Carson Teva (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee). Unlike the Rebels versions of Hera, Ahoska, Ezra, and Sabine, who all appeared in Ahsoka Season 1, the live-action Zeb is more or less exactly as he was in the animated series.But in “The Pirate,” Zeb just stood there and talked. In The Mandalorian and Grogu, he’s firing blasters, crawling around, and generally being the cool, grumpy Rebel action hero that fans love. This, oddly, is the coolest thing about this new footage: it shows off just how confident Lucasfilm and ILM are with the live-action version of Zeb, which is the kind of motion-capture character we take for granted these days.But we shouldn’t take this for granted. Zeb’s basic design comes from initial concepts that artist Ralph McQuarrie had for Chewbacca, so when we see Zeb in live-action, we’re seeing, in a way, a looking-glass version of the original Star Wars. Fans can (and will) quibble about everything happening in The Mandalorian and Grogu, but the coolness of Zeb and the legacy he carries should be celebrated. The only thing that needs to happen now is for Zeb to drop the infamous Star Wars swear word “karabast” as much as possible.The Mandalorian and Grogu hits theaters on May 22, 2026.