Star Wars: 10 Things You Never Knew About General Grievous

10. Behind-The-Scenes Development

Although it's commonly believed that General Grievous was introduced as the new big bad in Revenge of the Sith, he actually debuted over a year earlier when he appeared in the short-lived, non-canon micro-series The Clone Wars, voiced by John DiMaggio.

When time came for him to transition over the movies, George Lucas made sure to scrap this version of the character, since he was portrayed as a droid rather than a cyborg. Come his appearance in Revenge, he's more clearly half-man, half-machine, and is much more intimidating to boot.

Despite the lack of major success with his debut, Grievous was also adopted for the last of the prequel movies to replace Count Dooku, who was expected to die early in the film, leaving it without a secondary antagonist.

It's also worth noting that whilst actor Matthew Wood would voice the General throughout Revenge and the newer, much more successful Clone Wars TV show, Oscar-winner Gary Oldman was originally considered for the role since he was good friends with producer Rick McCallum, but he ended up passing on the opportunity.