The next animated Star Wars show is now confirmed as Lucasfilm today announced that its latest series The Bad Batch will be coming to Disney + in 2021.
According to the announcement on StarWars.com
“The series follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in The Clone Wars) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch — a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill, which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on daring mercenary missions as they struggle to stay afloat and find new purpose.”
I must admit that right now, I’m very mixed on the announcement. The Bad Batch were a great group, so I’m thrilled to be getting more content from them (and more Dee Bradley Baker one man shows by extension), but I would not have expected them to get their own series. I must also admit that while I love the era of the Prequel Trilogy and The Clone Wars, I’m at the point where I want to see more content elsewhere, such as prior to Attack of the Clones, between the Original Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy (eg. Sabine and Ahsoka’s search for Ezra) or during and following the Sequel Trilogy.
While I say that, I must admit that I am a little intrigued by what this story will cover, as it mentions them in the post-Clone War era. I’d love the pilot to show them when Order 66 is given so that we know what happens there, but beyond that it doesn’t sound like they’re remaining with the Empire, likely seen as non-conformers – maybe even believed dead? The timing of this show makes me wonder if we could see answers to some of the questions we still have following the final of The Clone Wars, like what happened to characters like Barriss Offee and Cody, while the talk of them taking on mercenary missions also makes we think that we’ll get some appearances from familiar bounty hunters and other such scrum from the underworld like Embo, Boba Fett, Aurra Sing, Bossk, Cad Bane (or confirmation that he’s dead) or maybe even Maul and Crimson Dawn!
One thing that I notice isn’t mentioned in the announcement is the style of animation, but I would imagine that it will be very similar to The Clone Wars season 7, as that would help explain the decision to use the Bad Batch arc if they were creating character models to be reused using the same technology. Luckily, I really enjoyed the animation so will be happy with that, but would not be opposed to a style more like Resistance. We’re also not told what the target audience is for the show, but I would imagine that from the information we have been given, I think that this will be more in the age bracket of The Clone Wars and Rebels as opposed to Resistance, though similar to the previous shows I wouldn’t be surprised if it ages up though the seasons.
I just don’t know if I’m excited enough by the prospect at the moment, as there were certainly a number of other shows that I would’ve wanted before this. But what do you think?
Thank you for reading. May the Force be with you…
The Canon Padawan 