Star Wars Rebels premiered back in 2014. Essentially a follow-up to Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the animated series introduced a plethora of new characters to the science-fiction universe including Ezra Bridger, Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, and Kanan Jarrus.
The last of them, in particular, has become relevant recently as actor Sam Witwer revealed that he was originally meant to play the role — which Freddie Prince Jr. would actually end up playing. Witwer is best known for serving as the voice of Darth Maul in both of the aforementioned Star Wars animated series (as well as in Solo: A Star Wars Story).
He's also notably had a plethora of live-action roles and often serves as the voice of Emperor Palpatine in various pieces Star Wars media such as video games. Speaking of, he's also quite well-known for playing Galen "Starkiller" Marek in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video games. He's also a living encyclopedia when it comes to Star Wars.
"Rebels, for a second according to a few people at Lucasfilm, was called ‘The Sam Show’ because I was Kanan," the actor revealed to Star Wars Holocron. "And then they found Freddie [Prinze Jr] after they heard Freddie’s audition. I’ve got to be honest, I had a certain take on the character, and what I was doing was not better than what Freddie was doing."
"What Freddie was doing was better than what I was doing in my opinion, and I realized that when I saw it. I was like, wow, this guy is absolutely that character. I think that’s the way to go." All's well that ends well. Witwer still featured in Star Wars Rebels as Maul and Palpatine — and Freddie Prince Jr. certainly did do well as Kanan. It's but an interesting tidbit of trivia.
What's more, Witwer has significantly reprised the role of Maul for the current and final season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars — find out more on that here.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars — The Final Season is now streaming on Disney+