A bit lost in the shuffle among all the brand new announcements for Star Wars at the Disney Investors Day was the first trailer for the upcoming animated show, The Bad Batch!
In case you missed it, here’s the teaser:
As any good trailer should, this has me tons more excited to see this show, and I can’t wait for it to release. I’m assuming that it’ll be coming out in 2021, and hopefully even earlier in the year than later, but we don’t know an official release date just yet.
But like we do with every trailer, let’s dive in and break things down.
We’re going back to Kamino! We see the Bad Batch’s ship, the Havoc Marauder, arriving back home. Based on what we see later in the teaser I think this probably happens very early in the show, as perhaps the clones are recalled to Kamino at some point soon after Order 66? I’m just excited to be going back, as I love Kamino and think there’s still a lot of things that could be explored by doing so – particularly in a show like this, as I’ll get into in a bit.
And here’s the team arriving on Kamino. In case you’ve forgotten who the members of Clone Force 99, a.k.a. The Bad Batch, are, from left to right it’s Tech, Echo, Hunter, Wrecker, and Crosshair. You can get a refresher on them here.
So I’ve here combined a number of images from throughout the teaser of the Havoc Marauder arriving at different planets. While we might be able to make a couple of guesses on a few of them, it’s really hard to tell much of anything from them. However, with how many of these shots are in the teaser, I think it’s supposed to make us realize that this show will feature a lot of travels across the galaxy with our heroes as they try to figure out their place in the galaxy after the Clone Wars. So this should take us to a number of different worlds on a lot of different adventures. That’s what I learn from all of these shots.
Here’s one of those worlds, which kinda looks like Umbara to me. But I doubt it’s actually that. It also kinda looks like it could be Kashyyyk, which could make more sense, as the Bad Batch was originally supposed to go on a mission to the planet during The Clone Wars in one of the unfinished arcs. But most likely, this is just a new planet.
We know where this is, however! This is the clone training facility on Kamino, which we first saw in the Kamino arc of The Clone Wars in season three (ironically where we first met 99 too). From a few of the shots later in the trailer, it seems that the Bad Batch will have to fight their way out of here.
We see the Bad Batch standing at attention with a bunch of other clone troopers. What I find most interesting about this is that for the other clones, all distinctive markings are eliminated. We see that they just have the basic white clone armor and no colors painted on. Does this mean that they’re just a bunch of shinies who hadn’t yet been deployed from Kamino? Or, maybe more interestingly, does this mean that these clones are now serving the Empire and have had all distinctives erased? I think the latter is probably more likely and definitely more interesting from a storytelling perspective.
So this obviously isn’t Kamino, but it might be Zygerria! We see Hunter fighting against a Zygerian slaver, first seen in The Clone Wars. It looks like we’re going back there, which will be very interesting and pretty cool.
We see some clones in action on a snowy, forest planet, so it seems we’ll be getting to see clones in action once again.
No idea where this is, but Hunter rides a speeder bike through a city. Again, this helps us realize that the show will take us to a number of different locations.
Wrecker jumps to take out a droid. Is this on the same snow planet seen earlier, or a different one?
Here’s the team ready for battle somewhere at night.
This looks to be on Kamino, and tons of clones are gathered to watch Chancellor Sheev Palpatine announcing that the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, a moment that happened in the Senate in Revenge of the Sith. It seems like this could be the same environment in which we saw the Bad Batch standing with a bunch of unmarked clones. So, again, are these new clones, or old ones brought back home for this announcement after Order 66? To be honest, we haven’t really seen what the clones did immediately after Order 66, aside from Palpatine’s Guard. Once they finished hunting down and killing their Jedi, where did they go? It’s quite possible that many of them returned to Kamino, though we’ll have to see.
It’s great to see Palpatine here, and of course he looks great. I doubt we’ll see much of him in this show, but it’s a cool way of incorporating him to have the clones watching this speech. What this does tell us is that this show is going to begin at the very end of the war. Does that mean we’ll see Order 66 all over again? What was the Bad Batch doing then – did they turn on the Jedi, or do their modifications keep them exempt from that inhibitor chip?
But most interesting of all to me is that it means this show will be giving us a look at what happened to the clones after the war. This is what really has me excited about The Bad Batch. The clones were bred and trained for war. As Rex so poignantly said in The Clone Wars, “We clones have mixed feelings about the War. Without it, we wouldn’t exist.” Their entire purpose was war… so what happens to them after the War ends? And further, the clones turned against the Jedi and betrayed them – what happens to them after that? Does the chip just permanently keep them from ever feeling conflict over that? I doubt it. I think we could see some clones really struggling with what has happened and where they fit into everything now. Plus, as we know, the Empire will eventually phase them out entirely in favor of stormtroopers. What The Clone Wars did so, so well was give such profound characterization to the clones during the War. I have high hopes that this series can continue that on by looking at the clones after the War.
One other thing about this shot that I noticed: you can see standing above the clones but below Palpatine’s hologram are some figures in a room overlooking the clones. I think you can make out some Kaminoans and clones from the Coruscant Guard, but there are other figures there too. I can’t really tell who they are, but that’s pretty interesting to me. Based on what we see later, it’s a good guess that Tarkin is there at some point, but I can’t really find anyone that looks like him there.
Here’s a look at Echo in his new gear, fully fitting in with the rest of the Bad Batch. I’m not sure how he can see with that helmet on, though.
In addition to Echo, we get some great closeup hero shots of the other members too. I’ve compiled them all here.
I mentioned earlier how I’m excited to see further exploration of the clones in the post-ROTS world, but I’m also excited to see them in a new light: this teaser very much portrays them as the villains. They’re working for the Empire now! Again, I think there’s a ton of really intersting stuff that this show can do with the clones, now working for the bad guys.
Speaking of the clones as the bad guys, this looks like a special elite squadron of sorts, as they’re all in black (whereas all the other clones are all in white without any designations). That means that this central figure here is probably one of the “big bads” of the show, at least early on. I think it would be really cool – and heartbreaking – if this is actually a clone we know. Like, say, Cody….? I think he’d be best utilized in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, but my point is simply that I think it would be cool to see clones we’re familiar with now working for the bad guys, as that can present some really complicated emotions that go much deeper than just “faceless bad guy.”
So this is really cool and unexpected: Fennec Shand shows up a couple of times in the trailer! She first appeared in The Mandalorian, making a cameo in season one and then (spoiler alert) having a more significant role in season two. She’s awesome, from the bit we’ve seen of her in The Mandalorian, so I’m thrilled that she’ll be appearing here! I could see her actually fulfilling a similar role as she does in the live-action show, first appearing as a foe and then becoming an uneasy ally of the heroes.
As I mentioned earlier, it looks like the Bad Batch has to fight their way out of the training facility on Kamino, and they’re facing these droids. They look a lot like the sentry droids seen in Rebels and the Dark Troopers seen in The Mandalorian. Could these be some kind of Phase 1 of one of those projects?
A crashed Republic Venator. A reminder that this show will literally take place in the ruins of the Republic and the rise of the Empire.
This certainly looks like Bracca. This is the planet where we first find Cal Kestis at the beginning of Jedi: Fallen Order, as he’s working for the Scrapper Guild dismantling old ships from the War. It looks like we might be heading to Bracca, which is pretty cool! Maybe we could even get a cameo from Cal, though it surely wouldn’t be anything too significant, as he’d just be a young kid having survived a pretty traumatic experience and trying to hide. Even if we don’t see him, though, it’d be cool to see more of Bracca for sure.
A clone flametrooper! Nothing too revealing here, but it’s cool.
Following up on the Zygerian slaver seen earlier, it looks like the slaver’s got a nice ride here as he pursues the Bad Batch.
I think this is great – Wrecker in disguise! He grabs three clones and smashes their heads together, but I just love his outfit as he tries to disguise himself.
Crosshair hurls something at other clones as they’re in the mess hall, which surely starts a fight. Based on this and other stuff in this trailer, I’m guessing that the Bad Batch heads back to Kamino with a bunch of other clones very shortly after Order 66, but soon realizes that they can’t just serve the Empire like all the others and decides to ‘defect’ – which forces them to have to fight their way out and then try to find their place in the galaxy as mercenaries. That’s kinda my feel for what happens, and so if that’s the case, then most of what we see in this trailer probably happens very early on in the show.
Here’s that elite clone squadron again. They look very ominous and menacing, which once again furthers my belief that they’ll be the big antagonist early on.
Here’s Wrecker fighting off a number of droids, but they’re unlike any droids I recognize. Based on the color scheme, I kinda wonder if they’re Mining Guild droids, but that’s really just a guess.
Clones at war! There’s no clue as to who they’re fighting, but we’ll see a fairly large-scale battle with the clones in this show at least. But I wonder: does this happen at the beginning of the show, at the end of the Clone Wars, maybe right before Order 66? Or does this happen during the era of the Empire?
Wrecker climbs a rope while a water creature tries to catch him. Again, I don’t know what this is, however it’s possible that it’s a dianoga or some creature like it, since we know that it resides in water and looks a lot like this creature.
Here’s Wilhuff Tarkin! He walks into a room on Kamino to speak with the Bad Batch, saying, “That was quite an impressive display.” Like I’ve been saying, I’d guess that all this Kamino stuff happens pretty early on.
One other note is that you can see a member of the Coruscant Guard standing behind him. I find it very interesting that in this entire trailer, the only clones that we see wearing distinctive markings are the Coruscant Guard, whereas all the others are wearing unpainted white armor or the all-black armor (not including the Bad Batch, of course). I’m not sure how much that means, but if it’s true that the Empire is trying to have the troopers be more uniform and less distinctive, then perhaps Palpatine’s personal guard are the only ones able to keep the markings.
A bunch of civilians look on and cheer as clone troopers walk by. Again, I think this show will challenge some of our prior notions, as the people appear to be cheering the Empire and their clone troopers for bringing peace. That reminds me of what Mayfeld said in the most recent episode of The Mandalorian, that for most people in the galaxy, it doesn’t matter who is in control. They think they want freedom, but they really want order.
I’m also going to point out the logo here, because I think it’s fantastic and think it actually does a really good job of highlighting what this show is going to be about. It begins with The Clone Wars logo before it burns away to reveal The Bad Batch logo. This is, in many ways, the sequel to The Clone Wars, as it will explore what happens to the clones after the War and after Order 66.
So, overall, a few of my big takeaways from this teaser are: (1) we’re going to Kamino, but also a number of other planets to give this a large galaxy-wide adventure feel; (2) we’ll probably see the clones quite a bit… but this time, as the antagonists; (3) it looks like the Bad Batch will start off as ‘allies’ of the clones and the Empire before breaking away to become mercenaries; (4) Fennec Shand will show up!
Overall, I’m just really excited about the potential to explore the clones after Order 66, both in terms of what they’re doing but also in terms of where they’re at mentally and emotionally. I can’t wait for this show!
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