STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH
HAVING MADE THEIR DEBUT IN THE CLONE WARS, THE UNCONVENTIONAL SOLDIERS OF THE BAD BATCH ARE GETTING THEIR OWN SPIN-OFF SERIES. SFX GETS THE LOWDOWN ON THEIR MISSION
Meet the mercs taking on the dirtiest missions in the galaxy.
CONTRARY TO POPULAR belief, not all clones are created equal. Although the Clone Troopers all emerged from the same Petri dishes on Kamino, their DNA a photocopy of Jango Fett’s, The Clone Wars TV show revealed that they had radically different personalities – and a penchant for distinguishing themselves with extremely questionable hairstyle choices.
Some of Star Wars’ clones break the mould even further than mohawks and dye jobs, however. When the long-awaited final season of The Clone Wars debuted on Disney+ last year, we were introduced to an elite special unit of commandos unlike anything we’d seen before. Hunter, Crosshair, Wrecker and Tech – aka Clone Force 99 – were all born from the same primordial soup as their Clone brothers, but freak mutations had given them unique attributes that turned them into the ultimate fighting force.
HIT AND MISFIT
Known colloquially as the Bad Batch, they’ve now been given their own animated spin-off series, set against the backdrop of the Old Republic turning into the Empire.
“There’s a lot to go down at this particular juncture in the Star Wars mythology,” says Dee Bradley Baker, who has voiced every Clone Trooper since The Clone Wars began – and plays all of the eponymous Bad Batch. “It’s very exciting because it’s a transformational moment on a galactic scale, so there’s all kinds of things that can play out. It’s a Wild West kind of a situation where everyone’s got to take stock, everyone’s got to see where they stand, everyone’s got to see how this is going to go with whoever you were affiliated to before.
“That’s the grand picture,” he adds, “but the beautiful thing about Star Wars is that you also have personal stories, you have threedimensional characters that you connect with, and that you care about. It’s not just a grim, difficult, political and military timeline playing out, because you have these personal stories of people who are struggling through this. They’re not just looking to survive, but also how to play this right.”
While the Bad Batch didn’t hit TV screens until their four-episode Clone Wars arc streamed in 2020, they’ve existed a lot longer than that. In fact, George Lucas came up with the idea before he sold his Star Wars empire to
Disney in 2012. “The characters of Clone Force 99 first came to be during the original run of The Clone Wars,” lead writer of The Bad Batch Jennifer Corbett tells SFX. “George Lucas wanted to do a Dirty Dozen-inspired story, but with Clones.”
Their first engagement with the public came at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim in 2015. Even though The Clone Wars had already been cancelled by Disney – its 2020 resurrection was announced later – Lucasfilm gave fans the chance to see unfinished story reels from the Bad Batch’s adventure.
“When the unaired reel of their Clone Wars arc was released at Star Wars Celebration in 2015, it became an immediate fan favourite,” explains Corbett. “That speaks volumes about the mass appeal of this misfit squad. Developing an entire series around them gave us the opportunity to delve deeper into who these Clones are, showing how they navigate the impending end of the Clone War and begin questioning their place in the galaxy.”
While Star Wars has already delved into the two decades of the Imperial rule that came before A New Hope – both in Solo: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Rebels – The Bad Batch will be the first piece of screen canon to explore the aftermath of the Clone Wars, when the Galactic Republic transitioned into the Galactic Empire.
We’re not sure exactly how much time has passed between the events of Episode III and the start of The Bad Batch, but we do know the universe will be a radically different place to the one Anakin Skywalker, Obi-wan Kenobi and the rest used to call home. Almost overnight, Sith Lord Emperor Palpatine has transformed a democracy into a dictatorship and – thanks to most of the Clone Troopers enacting Order 66 – the majority of his Jedi enemies have been executed.
“This era in the Star Wars timeline was very appealing because of the massive changes happening throughout the galaxy,” says Corbett. “While many distrust the Empire, there are also those who initially embrace them for bringing an end to the war that has raged on for so many years. It’s a complicated time, for sure. Technically there is peace, but it’s the Empire’s version of it.”
As yet it’s unclear whether the Bad Batch themselves were subject to the same Order 66 instructions as their Clone brethren, but seeing as the trailer shows the gang going rogue and becoming the Empire’s Most Wanted – while also taking a mysterious child, seemingly called Omega, into their protection – it seems unlikely they’ll be joining the Palpatine Fan Club any time soon.
“The Bad Batch serve as a really interesting reference point in the middle of this profound transformation that’s going on from Republic to Empire,” explains Baker. “These are guys that used to serve the Republic, but in an odd sort of independent, improvisational, figureout-your-own-way-of-doing-it kind of a way. That means they’re not like the regular lockstep soldiers, so they have a stance towards this transition that is unique among Clones.
“The question, first of all, is what is actually happening? And second of all, what do we do and where do we stand? These are profound, existential questions for this troop in particular, and it’s very interesting to watch these proceedings play out, through their sort of ambivalent lens. The stakes are very high, with much to lose and much to win. Where your
This is a fascinating watershed, a transitional moment in the whole Star Wars mythology
alliance lands, and who you stand with, can have a profound impact on whether or not you’re going to be alive, or how your life is going to play out. They’re used to rolling with the punches and rolling with big changes, and that’s part of their effectiveness.”
“Part of the fun of the Bad Batch is that they do things their own way, which has always worked out well for them,” adds Corbett. “During the Clone Wars, the Republic gave them a certain level of autonomy. They went from mission to mission, usually without supervision, and called their own shots. Obviously, the Empire operates very differently. As you can imagine, Clone Force 99 does not respond well to strict rules and regulations.”
They’re clearly a radically different focal point to the Jedi Knights who headlined the parent show, but should we be looking at The Bad Batch as season eight of The Clone Wars, or as season one of a brand new entity?
“Well, it is of the Clone Wars universe, but The Clone Wars is done – there ain’t no more Clone Wars!” Baker laughs. “This show is beyond The Clone Wars, but it is beyond it in really interesting ways.
“This is a fascinating watershed, a transitional moment in the whole Star Wars mythology, as fans are fully aware – thanks to all of the details that have been added with previous seasons of The Clone Wars, as well as Star Wars Rebels and even the feature [films]. These things prep the attentive fan to the field of possibilities that are now going to be explored in really awesome ways.”
“While The Bad Batch aims to continue The Clone Wars’ legacy of epic storytelling, it is not season eight,” Corbett continues. “Like Saw Gerrera says in the trailer, ‘The Clone Wars have ended.’ There are still Clone stories to be told, and the journey of the Bad Batch is just beginning.”
CLONE ZONE
To say that Dee Bradley Baker is integral to
The Bad Batch would be an understatement. Having brought legions of Clone Troopers to life across seven seasons of The Clone Wars
– not to mention his appearances in Star Wars Rebels – he was always a key member of that show’s voice cast. But in The Bad Batch he plays all five of the show’s lead roles.
While most of Baker’s voice acting on
The Clone Wars involved his impressive impersonation of original Jango (and now Boba) Fett actor Temuera Morrison, the poles-apart members of The Bad Batch allow him to give different vocal cords a run-out.
The group’s leader Hunter has enhanced senses, while Crosshair is a master marksman, Tech is the brains of the operation, and Wrecker provides the muscle. And since the Bad Batch’s run on The Clone Wars, the original quartet have also recruited Echo to the group, a factory-model Clone who was left physically and emotionally scarred after being used as a tactical computer by Separatist forces. Creating the distinct roles provided a new challenge for Baker, who’d spent years finding variations on a regimented theme.
“They’re really unique Clones,” he says, “so the challenge was to make something that references the Clone sound that we’ve been working on for many, many seasons. These guys have to sound different and in a much more pronounced way, because they each have this kind of… it’s not a superpower, but it’s a super-skill, a super-competence, that tends
them towards a different kind of tone. We arrived at that fairly quickly as I’d throw out ideas, and [the production team] would say yeah or no, or ‘maybe we change it a little bit’. Then we locked into it actually fairly quickly.
“There’s almost a suggestion to the characters in the visualisation,” he continues. “I mean, Crosshair has almost a feline look to him, Hunter has a kind of smokey broodingness to him, and Wrecker looks like he just wants to bust things up. Right there, that is the essence of these men. Creating them is a fascinating collaboration, to try to conjure these guys out of the swamp into reality, pulling them up like Yoda to reveal themselves. It seems like a magic trick, but it’s really fun to meet these guys and to play them.”
For Baker, playing multiple roles involves “jumping from rock to rock to rock” of each character during recording sessions.
“I can’t tell you how incredible and entertaining it is to watch Dee in action,” says Corbett. “His ability to seamlessly shift between Hunter, Echo, Crosshair, Wrecker and Tech, giving each a unique voice and personality, is a true skill. I’m in awe of how talented he is. He’s been the voice of the Clones for so many years and his insights are invaluable.”
Luckily for Baker, it’s not just a one-man show, and the trailer reveals that the Bad Batch will cross paths with several familiar faces, including Moff Tarkin, Saw Gerrera and The Mandalorian’s Fennec Shand – and there may be more…
“It’s a big galaxy, but you never know who you’ll run into… or who you’ll be running from!” teases Corbett. “It’s very tempting to want to play with all the characters in the Star Wars sandbox, but it’s important for us to give The Bad Batch enough room to grow into their own, while also being able to introduce some new faces to the scene.”
When it comes to Star Wars canon, The Bad Batch team have an essential weapon in their arsenal in the form of walking Wookieepedia Dave Filoni. The former Clone Wars and Rebels showrunner is now busy on live-action shows The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, but Corbett says he still finds time to help out on the new show he co-created.
“I’m not sure how Filoni finds time to do all he does, but he is very involved in The Bad Batch and we are grateful for that,” she explains. “From story conception through production, his feedback is instrumental in
It’s a big galaxy, but you never know who you’ll run into… or who you’ll be running from
making each episode the very best version that it can be. In addition to his extensive Star Wars knowledge, Filoni’s been a tremendous source of guidance and support throughout this entire process. It’s been such a rewarding experience working with him and this entire team.”
With the events of Solo still a decade away, this is refreshingly fertile storytelling territory, largely free from canonical entanglements. The characters are totally unaware that Palpatine will meet his demise on the second Death Star. But unless the show goes on to cover 20 years of Star Wars history, we’re unlikely to see how the Bad Batch play a part in his downfall. Corbett says, however, that “we have a plan for where we’re going,” while confirming that the
storytelling will be “linear like Rebels, but the scale of the episodic adventures is similar to The Clone Wars.”
So don’t assume that The Bad Batch is just some cartoon for kids – it’s just as important to the ongoing Star Wars saga as high-profile live-action shows like The Mandalorian.
“Star Wars has a kind of staying power and a kind of history, and a kind of momentum that I don’t think there’s anything to compare it to,” says Baker. “There’s good reasons for that, and another really good reason is going to be The Bad Batch. I can tell you that.”
The Bad Batch is on Disney+ from Friday 4 May.