If you’ve been missing Star Wars animated series since Clone Wars ended, fear not. Disney+ has announced that its next animated series will be Star Wars: The Bad Batch, a spin-off of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and it will be executive produced by none other than Star Wars animated universe maven and Mandalorian director Dave Filoni.
Here’s the official synopsis, from Lucasfilm:
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.
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The Bad Batch were introduced in the final season of The Clone Wars, which aired on Disney+ in the spring of 2020. Following their arc at the start of season seven, they added the clones trooper Echo to their crew—Echo was captured in an operation to retrieve Wilhuff Tarkin and Jedi Master Even Piell from a Separatist prison known as The Citadel. For his trouble, Echo was kidnapped by the Separatists and hooked into their computer systems to force him into giving up information about Republic military operations.
As this series takes place after the Clone War, we will get a chance to find out what happened to this group. They were never stationed around Jedi, and it’s possible that none of them had those chips implanted in their heads, so the actions of the clone army might have come as a surprise to them. Echo ostensibly still has the chip, however, and we have no way of knowing how he would react to the massive death toll enacted by his brothers.
According to the announcement, Brad Rau (Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance) will be supervising director, while Jennifer Corbett (Star Wars Resistance, NCIS) will serve as head writer. They’ll also executive produce alongside Filoni, Carrie Beck (The Mandalorian, Star Wars Rebels), and Athena Portillo (Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels), with Josh Rimes (Star Wars Resistance) as producer.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch will arrive on Disney+ in 2021.
Huh, this is neat. I do wish they’d move away from the Clones/Mandalorians throughline they seem slightly obsessed with, though. I’d love to see more central female protagonists and just more women generally, too, and a series built around clones seem to make that somewhat difficult.
I wonder if this series will feature a similar animation style to Clone Wars & Rebels or forge its own in the way like Resistance. I’d personally love a more traditional animation style but coming from Disney+ that seems unlikely.
This seems interesting. I liked that arc of the last season less than the ones involving Ahsoka, but it was still fun to watch.
I will note, though, that Echo was the clone who had been kidnapped and controlled by the separatists. Fives was indeed the one who found out about the inhibitor chip in Season 6, but he was assassinated for the trouble.
I am so over this era of Star Wars. Sheesh, do something different, Disney!
Actually, the immediate post-Clone Wars era isn’t one we’ve seen a lot of; Rebels and Solo were both closer to the OT.
Agree with #3. The entire half of the article relating to Fives needs to be rewritten. It was Echo who joined the Bad Batch
I was wondering what the next animated offering would be. This looks interesting, as the early Imperial era is not too hemmed in by existing canon. The unit has a number of very diverse personalities, but I would agree with the comments above that some female characters would be welcome.
#5, Isn’t this “era” like 10 years? It doesn’t seem like a long enough time period to deserve further exploration. Move away from this time period, Disney! Show some creativity for once.
Anything will be better than those god awful sequels. Hopefully Kathleen Kennedy doesn’t interfere with this project like she does with everything else.. I am team Dave and Jon 100% they need to be president of Lucasfilm
It’s neat, but the Bad Batch is admittedly one of the aspects I am less interested in (although I do in general like the clones and would be more interested in seeing what Echo is up to). The trope of ‘unique but extremely talented castoffs’ just for whatever reason didn’t stick with me.
That said, Mandalorian didn’t appeal to me either, and I trust Filoni in general.