Via Starwars.com:

The upcoming television series Star Wars Rebels reintroduces several well-known concepts drawn by the late Ralph McQuarrie into the Star Wars universe. One of the more prominent McQuarrie concepts that has been given a new life is the character Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, a Lasat. Although, this is not the first time the early Chewbacca concepts have been refurbished into a new alien species. In 1988, West End Games released Tatooine Manhunt, which included a bounty hunter named Puggles Trodd, accompanied by an image that bore a striking resemblance to McQuarrie’s early Chewbacca. Thus, the Lasat species was born. Now, 16 years later, that species is explored again in Rebels. But Zeb is not the only character that is based on abandoned Star Wars aliens developed for film; the galaxy is filled with them. Many found their way into the Star Wars universe through various ways, from West End Games to Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Several designs for the prequel movies have been reused in the six seasons of The Clone Wars, but we’ll get to those later. After the release of The Phantom Menace in 1999, a few unused alien concepts had already found their way back, through means of the Episode I Racer videogame. In this game, released by LucasArts for various platforms, players are able to take control of all the Podracers from the movie, and then some. Among the new characters, several are clearly based on existing concepts for aliens that might have ended up in The Phantom Menace. The racers “Bullseye” Navior (1) and Toy Dampner (2) are based on discarded Podracer pilot designs by Terryl Whitlatch. The latter’s Podracer can be seen during one of the scenes for the Boonta Eve Challenge, although he is never included in any of the sources describing the contestants. Fud Sang (3) was drawn and even sculpted as part of the designs for the Podrace sequence, but not included in the final version of the movie. The concept sculpt can still be seen in Episode I, in the form of a statue on Anakin Skywalker’s desk. Slide Paramita (4), a Ciasi racer, first appeared in concept art, but also in early drafts of the script. His homeworld Tund eventually made it into the final movie as Ben Quadinaros’ origin. Several of the new Podracer vehicles introduced in the game also found their origin in the designs for The Phantom Menace.

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