'Star Wars: The Bad Batch' Begins Deploying Its Last Batch In February
The series’s third season was announced to be its last in April at Star Wars Celebration Europe
We’re sending in the clones one last time. Disney and Lucasfilm have released the final trailer for their animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch and have revealed the fifteen-episode season will premiere with three episodes on February 21 on Disney+.
The elite clone squad has been separated due to the events of the season 2 finale. Omega is in Empire custody and must be rescued as they all try to free themselves from Empire control. The season’s official synopsis reads “In the epic final season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, the Batch will have their limits tested in the fight to reunite with Omega as she faces challenges of her own inside a remote Imperial science lab. With the group fractured and facing threats from all directions, they will have to seek out unexpected allies, embark on dangerous missions and muster everything they have learned to free themselves from the Empire.”
Executive produced by Dave Filoni and a spinoff of Star Wars: The Clone Wars from which Clone Force 99, a group of elite clone troopers with genetic mutations was introduced, the series stars Dee Bradley Baker as every clone trooper, not just main characters Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, Echo, and Crosshair, but every clone trooper. Familiar faces Captains Rex, Howzer and Wilco, and Commanders Cody and Mayday are all here. Michelle Ang is back as Omega, the Batch’s closest ally (and a different class of Jango Fett clone), while Noshir Dalal returns as Imperial Vice Admiral Rampart, Keisha Castle-Hughes as chief scientist Emerie Karr, Jimmi Simpson as Doctor Royce Hemlock, director of the Imperial Advanced Science Division, and Wanda Sykes as the pirate Phee Genoa.
However, the trailer featured quite the surprise return in Sith-apprentice-turned-rogue Asajj Ventress. “We love Asajj Ventress. She’s a character that we’ve been wanting to tell more stories about,” supervising director and executive producer Brad Rau explained. Continuity diehards and sticklers engrossed in the character’s history have nothing to worry about, as Rau makes clear that her return will not contradict any previous stories, but especially the book in which the character apparently died. “We don't want to spoil anything, but want fans to know that any new storytelling with Ventress will align with the events of Star Wars: Dark Disciple.”
All fifteen final season episode titles have also been revealed via the handy schedule. Episodes 6 and 7 and 10 and 11 will be released together, which means they’ve managed to condense a 15 episode season into what’s been a very common streaming season length of ten weeks, with the series finale airing on May 1. It goes as such:
February 21: Episodes 1, 2, and 3: “Confined”, “Paths Unknown”, “Shadows of Tantiss”
February 28: Episode 4: "A Different Approach”
March 6: Episode 5: “The Return”
March 13: Episodes 6 and 7: “Infiltration” and “Extraction”
March 20: Episode 8: “Bad Territory”
March 27: Episode 9: “The Harbinger”
April 3: Episodes 10 and 11: “Identity Crisis” and “Point of No Return”
April 10: Episode 12: “Juggernaut”
April 17: Episode 13: “Into the Breach”
April 24: Episode 14: “Flash Strike”
May 1: Episode 15: “The Cavalry Has Arrived”
When the series finale airs, the series will have ran for three days short of three years, having had a Star Wars Day premiere (May 4) in 2021.
Sources: Star Wars, The Hollywood Reporter