With the release of the Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3 trailer, Star Wars is finally circling back to and reaffirming one major Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker plot point, and it means The Bad Batch season 3 will be all the more thrilling. Star Wars recently released the first trailer for The Bad Batch season 3, giving a brief glimpse into what’s next for Clone Force 99. Along with some shocking character reveals and a nod to a possible time jump, the trailer set the stage for one The Rise of Skywalker set-up to be further explained.
As the final installment of The Bad Batch series, this suggests that the show’s conclusion will fill in some remaining loose ends for the Empire. The Bad Batch season 2 ending included several cliffhangers, including Tech’s possible death, Omega’s capture by the Empire, and Palpatine’s pressure on Nala Se to assist with a mysterious project on Wayland. With season 3 needing to make good on those storylines, The Rise of Skywalker may finally have one gaping plot hole addressed.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch Voice Cast – What The Actors Look Like In Real Life
Star Wars: The Bad Batch has quite an interesting cast of actors that features multiple Star Wars veterans, as well as a few newcomers.
The Empire’s Wayland Experiments Are All About Palpatine
In the Bad Batch season 3 trailer, Emperor Palpatine, speaking to an unknown subject, says, “There is nothing of greater importance to secure the future of this Empire. Whatever is needed to accomplish this goal, you will have it.” Given the focus in The Bad Batch season 2 on forcing Nala Se to assist with a Wayland project, this could only refer to Palpatine’s cloning plans. Nala Se, previously depicted in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, led the Kaminoan cloning project that brought about the Republic’s clone troopers. Palpatine needs her now for his new cloning efforts.
The Mandalorian’s Grogu Experiments Are Linked To Wayland
The Mandalorian season 2 ending revealed that Moff Gideon was after Grogu because he wanted to study his blood, and The Mandalorian season 3 ending built on that by unveiling Moff Gideon’s Force-sensitive clones. Grogu’s blood, then, was contributing to what the Empire had started with their cloning efforts. Particularly given that Dr. Pershing, who is a scientist with a focus on cloning, was previously experimenting on Grogu and wore a Kaminoan insginia, the intentions for Grogu seem clear, and that builds upon what The Bad Batch season 3 seems to be getting up to.
Star Wars Is Fixing Rise Of Skywalker’s Abrupt Palpatine Resurrection
The simple explanation that “Somehow, Palpatine returned” is largely regarded as one of the worst, if not the single worst, plot holes in Star Wars history. After the loss of Carrie Fisher and the sequel trilogy once again trading hands before its final installment, The Rise of Skywalker seemed to go for low-hanging fruit, using the franchise’s oldest and most utilized ‘Big Bad.’ The main issue with that, though, was that it had almost no connection to what had already taken place in the sequel trilogy thus far.
Not only were there no hints of Palpatine until then, but the reveal that Rey was related to Palpatine also directly contradicted Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In that movie, Kylo Ren told Rey that he learned who her parents were and found that they were nobody. While this could be explained by saying he was lying to hurt her or his search was flawed for whatever reason, perhaps misguided by Palpatine himself in some way, that doesn’t really hold water. Star Wars has since taken several angles to walk back the abruptness of that plot twist.
The novelization of The Rise of Skywalker in particular gave additional background, explaining Rey’s parents’ attempts to escape Palpatine’s clutches and hide Rey away. The book also gave context for Palpatine’s creation of Snoke and the way he employed cloning—one of the key ways Palpatine returned. Therein lies the strategy that The Bad Batch season 3 will no doubt lay out; the season will almost surely show how Palpatine began his efforts to clone himself all the way back then, giving The Rise of Skywalker’s plot twist a much better leg to stand on.
Purchase Rae Carson’s The Rise of Skywalker novelization on Amazon
Although this doesn’t exactly right the wrong of that sudden left turn, it does mean The Bad Batch season 3 will be all the more exciting. Additional explanation of the cloning process and a direct look into Palpatine’s long-term plan will spell out a greater understanding of the Empire’s inner workings. Perhaps even more intriguing, The Bad Batch may just show how cloning technology continues to grow and adapt, leaving the door wide open for upcoming Star Wars movies like The Mandalorian & Grogu or Rey’s upcoming Star Wars movie to incorporate clones in some capacity.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch
- Release Date
- May 4, 2021
- Cast
- Dee Bradley Baker , Michelle Ang , Noshir Dalal , Liam O’Brien , Rhea Perlman , Sam Riegel , Bob Bergen , Gwendoline Yeo
- Seasons
- 3
- Creator(s)
- Dave Filoni , Jennifer Corbett
- Franchise(s)
- Star Wars
- Where To Watch
- Disney Plus
