Star Wars Celebration has come and gone and the event was…eventful! With so many announcements pouring out, it would have been easy to miss news about even your favorite project. To counter that, here’s a daily recap of everything Murphy’s Multiverse deemed fit to print.
Tag: The Bad Batch
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SWCA: First Footage Description for ‘The Bad Batch’ Season 2
Star Wars Celebration is coming to an end, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any highlights on the last day. After quite a bit of silence on the second season of The Bad Batch, they finally showed off some of it during its panel at the event. Our very own Hunter Radesi was lucky enough to get in and share some of the footage he got to witness and share what was shown off. The following footage description is from the show’s premiere episode.
Some time has seemingly gone by since we last spent time with the Clone Troopers. Omega has aged and they have a new look as well. Their armor is now grey with some orange thrown in. Omega is playing at the beach while Tech reprimands her to focus on her studies. Suddenly, the other members are being chased by a giant crab monster. While they try to shoot at it, Omega gets caught between it and their ship. She shoots a few perfect shots with her bow and seemingly takes the beast down.
You can check out their new look here:
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‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Season 2 Eyeing a Spring Premiere
With the increasing amount of exclusive Disney+ content coming from Lucasfilm and Marvel Studios in 2022, it has become somewhat of a puzzle to figure out how to fit everything they have to offer a single calendar year with the least amount of overlap. With this in mind, the latest issue of Star Wars Insider managed to add another piece to the said puzzle, as it announces that Star Wars: The Bad Batch season two will start streaming this spring, as shared by @WookieNews on Twitter
The first season of the Lucasfilm animated show made its debut on May 4, 2021, a.k.a. Star Wars Day, something that could happen again in 2022. That same date for this year has long been rumored to be connected to the Obi-Wan Kenobi series debut, but it was never officially confirmed. Considering other Disney+ exclusives, May 4th is the expected day for Marvel Studios‘ Moon Knight to stream its finale after a six-episode season that starts on March 30th. This would depend if, unlike WandaVision and Hawkeye, Moon Knight sticks to a one-episode premiere, something that hasn’t been confirmed.
There’s precedent for Disney+ to be streaming content from their two biggest franchises at the same time, as long as one property is animated. This happened last year when the aforementioned The Bad Batch season one streamed alongside the entirety of Loki‘s first season. This means that a May 4 premiere for the animated show might still be on the table, even with the Marvel Studios series led by Oscar Isaac streaming that same day. With Disney+ usually releasing trailers for its upcoming shows two months ahead of its release, the release of The Bad Batch season 2 trailer might give us a better idea of when its premiere might actually be.
Source: Star Wars Insider 208 via Twitter
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‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ Episode Count Revealed
While Marvel Studios takes a short hiatus until June, we have the next Disney+ Original keeping us busy in the meantime. To celebrate May 4th, Star Wars: The Bad Batch will start off a brand new story exploring the aftermath of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Up until its release, we were uncertain how many episodes we can expect and it seems we finally got our answer. In an interview with Cnet, the series writer Jennifer Corbett and supervising director Brad Rau offered some insight on the upcoming project.
Rau revealed that the first season will consist of 16 episodes. Interesting enough is that he does call it “season 1,” which may hint at a future addition that may already be in the cards. He certainly shared his enthusiasm to explore these characters further and continue the stories of this spin-off.
The episode count is quite interesting, as it is longer than the previous two seasons of The Clone Wars. while it isn’t the usual 22 that we commonly see in the animation, it seems they may have prioritized the story and adjusted the episode count accordingly. Unlike its prequel series, this series also focuses on a specific group of characters rather than jumping between different stories. So, they most likely can streamline their approach. It’ll be interesting to see how this show stands out from its predecessors and if some of the set-ups here might even find their way into live-action, as Ashoka Tano did in the last season of The Mandalorian.
Source: Cnet.com
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‘STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH’: A Spiritual Successor to ‘The Clone Wars’
Ever since The Clone Wars was initially canceled back in 2013, Star Wars managed to keep its animated side alive and well both with Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars Resistance. But the legacy and appeal behind the series idealized by George Lucas was strong enough to grant it a final season that aired last year, with a wonderfully satisfying conclusion. But even then Lucasfilm was looking towards the future, by introducing The Bad Batch on a four-episode arc, which is what lead the team to their own show that is about to premiere.
By sustaining such strong connective tissue to its predecessor, it’s no surprise that it felt so important to also maintain the sense of visual continuity between both series.
Supervising director and Executive Producer Brad Rau:
It’s very intentional. The Bad Batch is a spiritual successor to The Clone Wars. We wanted to honor the style and the legacy of that. That being said, the whole team at Lucasfilm and our partners tightened everything up. So the fidelity is tighter. The style is tighter. The rigs are tighter. The way it’s designed is still the legacy of The Clone Wars but with a little more detail. With a little bit more focus. And the work we’re doing, for me, having worked on a lot of these other shows with a lot of the same people, I think we’re doing out best work ever right now. It’s really fun.
The animation style that The Clone Wars presented us with in 2008 has gone through a number of improvements over the years, constantly adapting to the available technology. But there’s no denying that it has become a staple of the show. So being, managing to pay tribute to it in a way that enriches a visual style that’s been evolving for over ten years without losing focus of what made it special to begin with, is certainly something we can agree with.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch will premiere exclusively on Disney+ on May 4, 2021, as a way to celebrate Star Wars Day, with a special 70-minute episode. The following episodes, which will have a more usual runtime of around 30 minutes, will be released on Fridays, starting with episode 2 on the 7th.
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‘STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH’: Omega’s Relevance
In the first episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch we’re introduced to Omega, a new character that, besides feeling tremendously important to the story the show set out to tell, manages to introduce a new dynamic within the Bad Batch. The team, being used to be their own sealed unit, take their time welcoming a foreign element into their group, for a good reason, and with interesting results. The voice of the Bad Batch, Dee Bradley Baker, had this to say:
They’re certainly not used to having anybody else along or working with anybody else. Although they did bring Echo along. But that happened after Echo kind of proved himself to them, and they came together on that. But, I mean, it’s interesting in terms of the story and the writing to have this kind of personal relationship with the younger character.
And to see how that changes, how they accommodate that and how that works. Because it’s more of an uncle/niece or a father/child dynamic, but not entirely. Because Omega has her own interesting potential of powers. So it’s interesting to see all of that unfold. I think it connects you to the story in a personal way. So it’s not just an action story. As Star Wars never is.
Continuing with a dynamic similar to what we’ve all seen working in The Mandalorian, between Din Djarin and Grogu, with the added elements that compose the Bad Batch, Star Wars manages to continue displaying that family and friendship is at its core. Even in the ultra-militarized world of The Bad Batch, doing the right thing by those close to you, by something going against protocol, remains as true as it has even been in the galaxy far-far away.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch will premiere exclusively on Disney+ on May 4, 2021, as a way to celebrate Star Wars Day, with a special 70-minute episode. The following episodes, which will have a more usual runtime of around 30 minutes, will be released on Fridays, starting with episode 2 on the 7th.
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‘STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH’: Dave Filoni’s Influence
With a new Star Wars animated show just around the corner, it’s hard not to mention Dave Filoni‘s work over the years in Star Wars animation. Having been a part of The Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, and Star Wars Resistance, it should be pretty obvious how he would also now be a part of a show that looks to continue leading the franchise down a path he was such a big part of in creating.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch head writer and Executive Producer Jennifer Corbett had this to say regarding Filoni’s overseeing of the show:
I got to work with Dave on Star Wars Resistance, which was such a great experience. Getting the chance to develop the series with him, it’s kind of like a master class in writing Star Wars. And with this being a sequel series of sorts to The Clone Wars, it was kind of crucial that he’d be involved in this process very much. Because these are characters that he’s created and it’s the world that he knows.
Supervising director and Executive Producer Brad Rau:
He’s an awesome guy, a good friend,, I couldn’t think of a better mentor, especially for Star Wars. The stuff he tells us every day is fantastic.
Jennifer Corbett and Brad Rau Following the enormous success of the final season of The Clone Wars that managed to propel The Bad Batch to their own show, as well as deliver an incredible ending to such an important chapter of the lives of characters like Ahsoka Tano, there is no reason to think The Bad Batch might disappoint. With Filoni’s oversight, and with a production team with a Star Wars animation past behind them, the show seems to be in good hands.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch will premiere exclusively on Disney+ on May 4, 2021, as a way to celebrate Star Wars Day, with a special 70-minute episode. The following episodes, which will have a more usual runtime of around 30 minutes, will be released on Fridays, starting with episode 2 on the 7th.
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Matt Lanter Hints at His Return as Anakin Skywalker in Future ‘Star Wars’ Projects
Hayden Christensen is returning as Anakin Skywalker in the upcoming Obi-Wan Kenobi series. It’s the grand return of the actor in the role since 2005. We have been following the adventures of the young Jedi before he became Darth Vader in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Matt Lanter voiced the character in the animated series and breathed some new life into the character with his portrayal. Well, it looks like he might also return alongside Christensen in a new project. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly for Jupiter’s Legacy, he hinted that he will return as the character in the near future.
There’s some new Lucasfilm Animation going on. I’ve been a part of some things I can’t talk about yet. You’ll see Anakin again. I never quite put Anakin down, whether I’m doing a video game or something new for Lucasfilm Animation.
There is a good chance that he’ll return n May’s release of Star Wars: The Bad Batch, but it seems like there might be some more projects in development. We could see some more The Clone War spin-offs in the future, as Star Wars continues to expand in animation. He also hints at it potentially involving a video game. It would be interesting to partake in the Clone War from a gaming perspective as a Clone Trooper working alongside the Jedi. Perhaps we even get to revisit the time in a Jedi Fallen Order sequel. His return may also open up the door for Ashley Eckstein to return in the role of Ahsoka Tano. We might get more news once The Bad Batch releases on May 4th.
Source: Entertainment Weekly
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UPDATE: ‘Star Wars: The Bad Batch’ To Premiere on May the 4th
UPDATE: It looks Collider was indeed right after all since less than two hours after the initial news came out, LucasFilm confirmed the May 4 release date for the upcoming series.
On StarWars.com there was further information regarding the release schedule. It was made clear that the unusual release day (for Disney+), a Tuesday, is due to the fact that May 4 is, as we all know, Star Wars Day. The following episodes will be released on Fridays as The Mandalorian, with the first one being made available on May 7th.
Source: StarWars.com
According to Collider, The Star Wars Clone Wars spin-off The Bad Batch is now set for a May 4th premiere on Disney+. However that same report ended up getting deleted shortly after, and the link is no longer available. Luckily, The Direct was able to quote the article before it got taken down, announcing a May 4 release date. Announced in July 2020, the animated series will follow the Clone Force 99, which is also known as the titular Bad Batch. They were the focus of The Clone Wars‘ last season’s first storyline. It will take place in the post-Clone Wars era, which will see the uniquely skilled clones take on mercenary work as they transition into a new life. It was during Disney’s Investor Day back in December that when we found out that the series will premiere in 2021. They also released the first footage, so we were hotly anticipating the actual release date.
The Bad Batch is yet another Disney+ exclusive that will expand the Star Wars franchise after The Mandalorian‘s success. If this debut date proves true, it looks like the streaming service is experimenting with different release schedules for its shows since both The Mandalorian and WandaVision was released on Fridays. The animated show would then break the mold with a Tuesday premiere as the service starts to expand, showing us that Disney is looking for ways to release multiple episodes every week without them cannibalizing each other. The May 4th release would set The Bad Batch to premiere right before Black Widow hits theaters and a couple of weeks before Loki will have its first episode made available. It will be interesting to see if the release of Collider’s article was just an accident or if it was released early, ahead of a scheduled official announcement.
Source: Collider via The Direct
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Lucasfilm Releases the First Trailer for ‘THE BAD BATCH’
The first trailer for the upcoming Disney+ animated show is now out.
Announced in July 2020, The Bad Batch will follow the Clone Force 99 a.k.a. The Bad Batch, which was the focus of the first story arc of the last season of The Clone Wars. Set in the post-Clone War era, the series will see the uniquely skilled clones take on merc work as they transition into a new life.
