Star Wars animated series such as The Clone Wars and Rebels have habitually brought back characters and returned to locations seen in prior seasons, no matter how big or small of a role they may have played. In this way, characters like Hondo Ohnaka became fan favorites rather than one-offs and stick around long enough to potentially make their way into live-action (fingers crossed, Hondo!). With the third and final season of The Bad Batch underway on Disney Plus, the writers dipped into that playbook in Episode 2, “Paths Unknown”, and brought back a face not seen since Season 1 and with him, one of the galaxy’s more ruthless crime bosses.
Episode 13 of Season 1, “Infested”, introduced Devaronian gangster Roland Durand into the mix of interesting folks Clone Force 99 have crossed paths with. Roland made his big entrance by assuming control of Cid’s Ord Mantell establishment, a move he said he learned from his mother, Devaronian crime boss Isa. Over the course of the episode, as Roland’s tough-guy tactics put him on the wrong side of business with the Pyke Syndicate, it was revealed that Isa was not to be trifled with and was a ruthless and respected leader with enough juice that the Pykes chose not to escalate matters and allowed Roland and the Batchers to walk away from their confrontation…but not before cutting one of Roland’s horns off. In the second episode of the three-episode Season 3 premiere, as Hunter and Wrecker begin their search for Omega, they pay Roland–and his mom–a visit.
You take what you want. That’s the Durand way. It’s a tactic my mother has perfected.
Roland Durand, Season 1-Episode 13
“Paths Unknown” not only introduces Isa Durand but also put a major talent and longtime Hollywood favorite behind the crime boss. Anjelica Huston, who played Morticia Adams in 1991 and 1993’s Addams Family films and won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1986’s Prizzi’s Honor, was revealed as a surprise addition to Season 3 as the voice of Isa. Huston, who previously voiced a Sith character in an episode of Star Wars Visions, is now officially apart of the galaxy far, far away!
The first 3 episodes of the final season of The Bad Batch are now streaming on Disney Plus.
