The conclusion of Star Wars: The Clone Wars was a gut-punching ordeal for fans who had grown up with the show. Luckily, though, all isn’t lost and Star Wars: The Bad Batch will serve as an exciting successor to Dave Filoni’s highly-acclaimed animated series.
Remember Clone Force 99 from the first few episodes of the seventh and final season of The Clone Wars? Apparently, the renegade clones did so well with audiences that Lucasfilm has decided to produce a spinoff completely centred around them. Consisting of four super-soldiers, Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair and Tech, the “Bad Batch” is a squad of Kaminoian clones who were born with genetic defects. While they didn’t undergo the same training as the rest of the Grand Army, the Republic eventually found a use for them: accomplishing missions that normal clones and other conventional forces would fail at.
Their introduction arc saw the squad fight the Separatists on Anaxes and save Echo from Techno Union. Star Wars: The Bad Batch, taking place after Order 66, will show the team adjusting to the Dark Times and making trouble for the newly risen Empire. CT-1409, aka Echo, will also probably tag along with them. But what about his former commander?
Ahsoka and Rex took off together after their Venator-class cruiser crash-landed on a planet near Coruscant. But since the two were no longer together in Rebels, it’s safe to assume that they eventually parted ways. Now, Brent Friedman, the writer who penned the “Bad Batch” story arc in The Clone Wars, has teased that Captain Rex may make a comeback in the upcoming series.
Recently, a fan on Twitter wanted to know why Echo never got the chance to ask Rex about Fives, and if the question would be addressed in Star Wars: The Bad Batch, to which Friedman responded: “Seems like a reasonable assumption.”
That’s certainly a tease if ever we saw one, but nothing unreasonable, nor unlikely. In fact, since Echo still retains his inhibitor chip, it may be up to Rex to remove it and save his friend, just like Ahsoka did for him in the penultimate episode, or else the rogue clones will have to deal with it on their own.