The first trailer for Star Wars: The Bad Batch seems to indicate that the infamous Grand Army commando unit somehow managed to overcome their Order 66 chips and refuse to kill their Jedi overlords.
While the Kaminoan clones had free will and thought, contrary to the Droid Army, their makers had come up with contingencies to keep them in check. One of these involved Palpatine’s masterminded plan to take over the Republic and destroy the Jedi. Indeed, the amphibian natives of Kamino had planted secret chips inside each and every clone’s brain, which, when activated, would compel them to hunt down and kill these warriors of peace and justice. Even the brightest and most loyal members of the armada failed to resist the command, in fact, including Captain Rex and Commander Cody.
But it seems that the Bad Batch has finally proven to be an exception to this tragic incident. At the beginning of the new teaser, Admiral Tarkin scolds the unit’s incessant disobedience, to the point of ordering their elimination. Later on, we see Hunter and Crosshair fighting standard clone troopers, implying that they’ve managed to overcome the Emperor’s mind control. Lastly, we can also glimpse Clone Force 99 working with Rex, who, as you’ll remember, gained his free will thanks to Ahsoka Tano’s intervention.
All of this seems to hint that the rogues will disobey Order 66, though the how of it still remains unclear. One possible explanation that comes to mind is the squad’s mutated physiology, the trait that made them the perfect candidates for the Republic’s elite corps in the first place.
Tell us, though, what are your predictions for the plot of Star Wars: The Bad Batch? Sound off in the usual place below.