Star Wars: The Bad Batch Is Reversing George Lucas’ Sequel Trilogy Plan

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is finishing up its final season, but it also seems like it’s reversing the Star Wars sequel plans George Lucas originally had. The Bad Batch follows a group of defective clones, also called Clone Force 99. Led by Hunter, the Batch has gone on many adventures over the course of three seasons trying to protect a young clone named Omega from the Empire. The Bad Batch season 3 has been one of the most harrowing, with Omega being held in the Empire’s secret cloning facility Mount Tantiss twice.

Clone Force 99 also had to deal with the loss of one of their brothers, Tech, who died in The Bad Batch season 2 finale. While The Bad Batch takes place in the early days of the Empire, it still sets up many storylines for Star Wars projects that happen decades later. In particular, Dr. Hemlock is spearheading Project Necromancer, a secret project to resurrect Emperor Palpatine. However, a secondary plot focuses on Echo, a former member of Clone Force 99 and fan-favorite clone, Captain Rex – and it connects to one of Lucas’ sequel trilogy plans.

George Lucas’ Sequels Included A Stormtrooper Rebellion

The Fall of the Empire Originally Led to Something Different

In George Lucas’ original plan for the Star Wars sequel trilogy, the story included a rebellion led by former stormtroopers. After the fall of the Empire, these troopers were supposed to rally their forces and fight back against the newly re-established New Republic government. While the stormtroopers were destined to lose to the heroes in the New Republic like Leia Organa, it still would’ve been interesting to see how the stormtroopers organized and what kind of fight they’d put up.

After George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012, he left his notes on what he thought the sequel trilogy should look like; however, Disney chose to go in a different direction after a script couldn’t find consensus. The sequel trilogy was originally supposed to focus on Leia Organa, and while she was a central focus and had the most screen time of the original trilogy characters, she was not the movies’ focus.

The Bad Batch Season 3 Is Showing A Clone Trooper Rebellion

Rex is Leading His Brothers Into Battle Again

After the fall of the Republic, Rex was instantly on the run, because he had his inhibitor chip removed and aided in the escape of Ahsoka Tano. However, over the course of the three seasons of The Bad Batch, Rex has shown up many times, and it seems he’s getting his brothers ready for battle yet again. Rex knows how many of his brothers are being held captive by the Empire, and how many have been systematically forgotten about since they were formally decommissioned. It seems likely that Rex will be leading a clone uprising.

Rex won’t want to dismantle the Empire, but he’ll want to free as many clones as possible. Rex and most clones are still loyal to the Republic, which creates an interesting parallel with what George Lucas’ plans originally were for the sequel trilogy. With Dave Filoni at the helm of most Star Wars titles, it’s possible this storyline is a nod to his former mentor. With so few episodes left of The Bad Batch season 3, it’s unclear if audiences will get to see this clone uprising, or if Rex, Echo, and their allies will be getting their own spin-off.