The Bad Batch Trailer

With the next Star Wars series, The Bad Batch, just over a month away, we were treated this week to another trailer for the series, along with the news that the opening episode on May 4ᵗʰ will be 70 minutes long, with following episodes airing on Fridays.

As is always my way with new trailers, let’s take a look at what we have to look forward to!

So first things first and because I find myself saying this about every Star Wars trailer, this looks and sounds fantastic! With a number of characters and places returning from The Clone Wars and a similar animation style, the series already feels familiar but with just enough separation that it doesn’t just feel like The Clone Wars season 8.

This feeling is certainly helped by returning characters, and while we already knew about Tarkin and Fennec, seeing Saw and Rex pop up in the trailer can only be described as “A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.” Having Saw included certainly suggests that we will be seeing some of his early rebellion against the Empire. It’s clear from the trailer that Clone Force 99 will be on the run, will Saw just be helping get the Imperials off their back, or will the Bad Batch be an active part of the early rebellions. The real shock was seeing Rex appear, and while I always felt that there was a chance he could appear, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see him left out of at least the first season to help keep the focus on the Bad Batch. It will be interesting to see if he is a regular in the show or just a part of one story.

The real character of interest though is this new child. From the accent, I’m assuming that they are another clone, I am guessing one of the latest modified clones. It certainly looks like they have a big part to play in the series, and I’m very interested to find out more about them, if only for their cool looking weapon that looks like a more technological version of the Nightsisters’ energy bows.

Going by the trailers for The Mandalorian, I imagine that most of the action we see will be from the opening 2 or 3 episodes, especially considering episode 1 is 70 minutes. I imagine that episode 1 will reintroduce us to Clone Force 99 fighting in the Clone Wars, before transitioning to the Rise of the Empire and the group being deemed too much of a risk due to their disobediance, leading to the order to decommission them, and the group going on the run. In this regard, I have 2 questions that I can’t wait to see answered: Will Clone Force 99 be involved in Order 66? And will Crosshair stick with the team? It’s noticeable that a lot of the shots of the group that appear to be once they are on the run do not include Crosshair. Is he going to remain loyal to the Empire – perhaps becoming one of the main antagonists – or is he going to sacrifice himself to help the team escape. Considering he was my favourite of the Bad Batch during their arc in The Clone Wars, I hope that there’s actually a much happier reason for his absence.

What did you think of the trailer? Are you looking forward to the series?

Keep an eye out for my reviews of the episodes as they release.

Thanks for reading. Good soldiers follow orders….