In 2020, Star Wars: The Clone Wars got to come to a proper end with the 12-episode Season 7, but the overall Clone Wars era has lived on thanks to the spinoff Star Wars: The Bad Batch, which exclusively airs to Disney+ subscribers amongst the Star Wars movies in order. Though the conflict between the Republic and Separatists ended in this series’ first episode, the adventures of Clone Force 99 have picked up various plot threads left behind by The Clone Wars. Now The Bad Batch is entering its third and final season, and voice actor Dee Bradley Baker told CinemaBlend why it’s “satisfying” that the series is concluding this chapter of the franchise set in a galaxy far, far away.
Baker has been on clone-voicing duty ever since Star Wars: The Clone Wars launched in 2008, but on Star Wars: The Bad Batch, he spends most of his time voicing five of the more “unique” Jango Fett clones: Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair and Omega, with Michelle Ang’s Omega rounding out the main cast. During my recent chat with Baker, I asked him how he felt about The Bad Batch Season 3 getting to close the proverbial book on the Clone Wars, and here’s what he had to say:
The Bad Batch feels very much [like it’s] the end of the Clone Wars. It’s the final spinoff. The escape pod, if you will, from the Clone Wars is The Bad Batch. This is the final element of that whole storyline that was George Lucas’ creation with his direct fingerprints right on it that they’re bringing home, that they’re bringing in for a landing. So there’s something very satisfying about being able to do that. You miss a good story, but part of what you miss about a good story is that it’s a good story, and that means it’s a story that has a beginning, middle and end, and that’s what we’ve got. Now that’s not to say that these characters could never appear again, because the Star Wars writers Dave Filoni and the rest, they can always go sideways or backwards in terms of what stories they’re exploring. Plus, you have a galaxy that’s full of aging veteran clones, and what’s going to happen with them and what are their stories. So there’s other options that are available, but certainly in terms of the Clone Wars, we’re seeing it playing out and resolving into a finale.
Even though the events of Star Wars: The Bad Batch take place in the first years of the Empire’s reign, this show definitely extends the Clone Wars narrative through not just placing Clone Force 99 in the limelight, but also bringing back characters like Captain Rex, Cad Bane and Asajj Ventress (whom we thought was dead). Granted, there’s also some ties with Star Wars Rebels thanks to younger versions of Kanan Jarrus and Hera Syndulla being featured, but The Bad Batch and The Clone Wars go hand-in-hand together. And as Dee Bradley Baker pointed out, because George Lucas was so heavily involved in the making of The Clone Wars, and by extension had a hand in introducing Clone Force 99, in a way The Bad Batch Season 3 feels like this is truly the last hurrah from the man who created this beloved mythology.
Like Baker said, just because Star Wars: The Bad Batch is ending doesn’t mean we’ll never see Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair, Echo and Omega again in one of the upcoming Star Wars movies and TV shows, and you can certainly count on other Clone Wars-set stories to be released/published. Chronology-wise though, it’s time for the Clone Wars era to come to an end, and Baker knew this time would eventually come. Season 3 is comprised of 15 episodes, with the first three premiering tomorrow, February 21, and the show finishing on May 1. Though he didn’t provide any spoilers, it sounds like Baker is pleased with how this corner of the Star Wars franchise wraps up.
Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for more Star Wars: The Bad Batch-related coverage. Following its conclusion, both Skeleton Crew and The Acolyte are expected to premiere on Disney+ later on the 2024 TV schedule.
