A new promo for The Bad Batch showcases wookiees and confirms that we’re heading back to Kashyyyk.
The promo spot features a number of shots that we’ve previously seen, including shots of a Trandoshan burning a forested area and Gungi, a wookiee Jedi padawan, igniting his lightsaber. But in this spot we also got a few new shots, including what looks to be wookiee chieftan Tarfful and other Wookiees on Kashyyyk, meeting the squad.
Take a look at the promo spot for yourself:
After the second trailer was released I guessed that we’d be heading back to Kashyyyk, and it looks like that’s correct. It would seem that the Trandoshans have a role in that arc, hunting the wookiees either for sport or for money, but that there will also be a fight to be had on the planet. It’s significant that Tarfful will show up, as he’s a prominent wookiee leader and fighter who has appeared in Revenge of the Sith and Jedi: Fallen Order, portrayed as a freedom fighter. In the wake of the fall of the Republic, Tarfful is forced to go on the run, as he is wanted by the Empire, and Kashyyyk is soon overtaken by the Empire.
But there are a few significant story threads that we could see at play in this season of The Bad Batch which are quite exciting. There was originally plans for an arc of The Clone Wars, which was never finished but was released as part of the unfinished arcs material, where the Bad Batch would head to Kashyyyk and help defend the planet. It looks like there will be elements of that repurposed in this series, which will obviously happen at a different point in the timeline but that could follow some broad strokes, with the crew fighting alongside the wookiees. The creatures the wookiees are riding on in this spot even look like creatures Dave Filoni had previously designed for that.
But there’s another story that we know about which could also be repurposed here. We know that at some point during the Clone Wars Tarfful was captured by Trandoshan slavers, and that a squad of clone commandos had to rescue him. With Trandoshans and Tarfful both glimpsed in this spot, it’s possible that we could see elements of that story translated here, to a different point in the timeline, as well.
It is notable, though, that it looks like Gungi is with the Bad Batch as they meet Tarfful and the others. That suggests to me that what might happen is that the squad needs to rescue Gungi and return him to Kashyyyk, where he’ll aid his people in the fight? That would be a very cool development, and seems possible.
There are plenty of different avenues that this series could take, but it will be really great to see Kashyyyk and the wookiees again.
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