Star Wars: 10 Things You Never Knew About General Grievous

Over the years, Star Wars has been home to many iconic characters, and ruthless Separatist leader General Grievous ranks up there with the best of them.

Introduced in the original Clone Wars micro-series before becoming one of the main antagonists of the prequel movie Revenge of the Sith, the infamous war leader was criminally underused in the franchise's mainline movies, but has a long and compelling backstory that could easily make up its own series if Disney was so inclined.

You see, it turns out Grievous is a lot more than a maniacal cyborg with a bad case of bronchitis, because he's actually just as complex, twisted and even tragic as the franchise's various other big bads, including Darth Vader and Maul.

For this list, Grievous will take centre stage, as his origin story is revealed, his lesser known secrets come to light, and his motivations are put under the microscope.

From his love of collecting lightsabers, to the mysteries of his forgotten homeworld and the reason behind his hatred for the Jedi, here are 10 things you never knew about General Grievous.

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.