See Unused 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Concept Art Used For New 'Star Wars Rebels' Character

We've seen in the past how Star Wars Rebels has used some of Ralph McQuarrie's original Star Wars concept art for the inspiration of many of the characters, location and props in the Disney XD animated series. Well Rebels isn't just looking at the past for inspiration, but also the future. A recent episode of Star Wars Rebels features a character based on a character design originally created for JJ Abrams' upcoming seventh Star Wars live action film Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Hit the jump to see the unused Force Awakens concept art which inspired the new Star Wars Rebels character.

You might remember reading about how Lucasfilm concept designer and Industrial Light & Magic senior art director Christian Alzmann played a role in the creation of the new droid BB-8 for the upcoming movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Alzmann was one of the many artists working on Episode 7, coming up with the early concepts that eventually made it way into the film. Of course, some of the designs don't make it into the movie, and the following design is one of them.

The design above which appears to have been created in January 2013, which is the same month that director JJ Abrams officially signed on to the project. This probably hints that it was a very early concept based on screenwriter Michael Arndt's early treatment.

The design was later used to inspire a character for the second season of Star Wars Rebels. Of course, the design adapted for use in the animated television series is a bit different than the one seen above.

On the orders of the Emperor, the Fifth Brother was one of the Inquisitors dispatched by Darth Vader to hunt the growing rebellion against the Empire in the years before A New Hope. As for what role he has played in the show so far, I'll leave that to Wookieepedia:

When Ezra Bridger was captured, he attempted to execute him on the spot, only to be stopped by the Seventh Sister who derided him for his short-sightedness as the boy could be used as bait. In contrast to the Grand Inquisitor and the Seventh Sister, the Fifth Brother seemed merely content to kill any Jedi he found rather than use them for information or traps against the wider rebellion.

The character on the show is voiced by actor Philip Anthony-Rodriguez.

How the character was to be used in the movie is unclear. The attire the character wears loos similar to the cloaks wore by (what we can only presume at this point) the Knights of Ren, which were seen in the most recent trailer.  The concept could have been created for the Andy Serkis's character Supreme Leader Snoke — we don't have any idea what he looks like at this point.

Its also possible that the character could've been a very early version of Kylo Ren or another character that was replace in the story as it evolved from when JJ Abrams boarded the project in January 2013.