Zeb didn’t exactly warm to Ezra Bridger after the young orphan joined Hera’s rebel cell. In a bid to rescue Wookiee slaves, the rebels sought out an Imperial cruiser, trying to convince the Imperials that Zeb was a rare hairless Wookiee. It didn’t work, and Zeb began battering stormtroopers. But the rebels were trapped, and in making his escape Zeb left Ezra behind – to Hera’s displeasure. The crew voted to return and save Ezra from Imperial captivity.

On a mission to steal Imperial weapons on Garel, the rebels discovered the Empire was transporting T-Z ion disruptors – which had been used to devastating effect during the conquest of Lasan. An enraged Zeb implored Kanan to destroy the weapons rather than selling them. He was nearly killed in a showdown with Agent Kallus, but Ezra saved him with the Force.

It was bad enough that Zeb had to share a cabin aboard the Ghost with Ezra, but now he owed the orphan his life. That debt kept Zeb from battering Ezra when Chopper launched an electric charge at Ezra that missed its intended target and hit the sleeping Lasat. But the battle was on when Ezra’s bunk collapsed on Zeb, courtesy of Chopper having removed its bolts. Tired of their bickering, Hera sent Zeb and Ezra to the market in Capital City to find meiloorun. They couldn’t buy any of the fruits, so they decided to steal a crate from the Empire.

The attempted theft left Zeb and Ezra running from the Empire. Zeb leapt on a TIE fighter and hurled the pilot out of the cockpit, then rescued Ezra in return for the boy’s promise that they were now even. But the two of them struggled with the fighter’s controls, careening through the market and across the Lothal grasslands.

At Old Jho’s Pit Stop, Zeb was so certain that he had a winning sabacc hand that he bet Chopper, only to lose the hand and the droid. Chopper’s new owner, the smooth-talking smuggler Lando Calrissian, offered to return the droid and pay Hera’s crew if they helped him move cargo past Lothal’s Imperial blockade.

During the rebels’ raid on Lothal’s Imperial communications tower, Zeb took the controls of a turbolaser emplacement, delightedly using the powerful weapon to blast stormtroopers and gunships.

After the Empire captured Kanan, Zeb joined the mission to rescue him from a Star Destroyer in the Mustafar system. The big Lasat had rarely if ever found crunching bucketheads so satisfying.