Star Wars: The Clone Wars is brilliant for so many ways. The animation, for one, and the storytelling, for another. It's definitely Star Wars, set in the same universe with many of the same characters you've known and love for decades. But at the same time it's something new altogether.
The Clone Wars also is what gave birth to the latest Star Wars spinoff series, The Bad Batch, which premieres on May 4, 2021, on Disney Plus. (Yes, Star Wars Day. Because May the Fourth be with you and all that.)
Here's the thing, though: The Clone Wars itself was a pretty massive undertaking, eventually spanning seven seasons and some 133 episodes. It also helped cement the likes of Dave Filoni (who you know from his work on The Mandalorian) into the Star Wars universe, and it's created its fair amount of canon in the process.
So you're forgiven if you're not entirely caught up on The Clone Wars and how it led to The Bad Batch. (That said, there's no time like the present to dive on in. It's only something two and a half days of nonstop viewing!) And for those who prefer reading instead of watching, here's the take on The Bad Batch:
The series follows the elite and experimental clones of the Bad Batch (first introduced in “The Clone Wars”) as they find their way in a rapidly changing galaxy in the immediate aftermath of the Clone War. Members of Bad Batch — a unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army — each possess a singular exceptional skill which makes them extraordinarily effective soldiers and a formidable crew. In the post-Clone War era, they will take on daring mercenary missions as they struggle to stay afloat and find new purpose.
Ahead of the premiere of The Bad Batch, Lucasfilm has released a quick video explaining who, exactly the members of The Bad Batch are. And how they came to be, given that they're clones.
Who's in The Bad Batch?
So that's how they came to be. Here's who make up the five members of The Bad Batch:
Hunter is the leader of the batch. There has to be a leader. He's also known for his ability to track, and his ability to be stealthy.
Wrecker is the brawler of the batch. He's strong. Stronger than the others. And of course that sort of thing comes with its own sort of hangups.
Tech is the "specialist," which is a nice way to say he's one of the nerds of the group. He's way into data analysis, which is good, because there's no way they could have had the strong one also have the smarts, right?
Echo is the hacker of the batch. He's got one of those cool universal socket arm things that droids have, which let them hack into all sorts of things that nobody's managed to find a fix for.
Crosshair is the not-so-subtly named marksman. He's got better eyesight than the others. So if you need something shot from far away, he's your clone.
New episodes of The Bad Batch will drop on Disney Plus on Fridays.
Disney Plus costs $7.99 a month and is available on every major streaming platform. But you definitely should take a look at the Disney+ bundle, which brings together Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ for just $13.99 a month, essentially getting you all three streaming services for the price of two.
