This year, Lucasfilm is putting a lot of effort into expanding its Star Wars animation products. The studio not only announced two new animated shows, Young Jedi Adventures and Tales of the Jedi but also revealed that The Bad Batch will return for a second season later this year.
We even got our first peek at the amazing exploits Clone Force 99 will embark on in Season 2 during the Star Wars Celebration.
While the short trailer doesn’t give too much away — Omega has a helmet now, and Hunter’s rocking a very cool scarf! — we did notice a few things that have us very excited for the return of this Clone Wars spinoff
Palpatine
As the Bad Batch dealt with the fallout from Order 66, which saw the majority of the clone army desert their Jedi generals, the Emperor’s shadow loomed large over the first season of the program. Clone Force 99 elected to flee Kamino and quit the Empire, effectively going AWOL, rather than follow their mind-controlled compatriots (hidden bio-chips within the clones’ minds was how Palpatine so easily influenced the Grand Army of the Republic to turn against the Jedi).
For these groups of “enhanced” clones, however, Order 66 was merely the beginning of their troubles. The Bad Batch watched as the Emperor carried out the next phase of his plan: replacing the aging clone troopers with a more obedient and reliable volunteer army of Imperial stormtroopers.
Forced to live as fugitives and take on mercenary work to make ends meet, the Bad Batch watched as the Emperor carried out the next phase of his plan: replacing the aging clone troopers with a more obedient and reliable volunteer army of Imperial stormtroopers By the end of the season, the Empire had nearly destroyed Kamino’s cloning factory, signaling the end of the clone period.
In the latest clip, Emperor Palpatine states, “It is time for the new age.” As the Emperor rises in a repulsorpod, Omega observes from undercover. Is it true that we’ve returned to Coruscant’s Senate chamber? And, assuming that’s the case, what exactly is Omega doing there? A screen seems to be behind the Emperor, displaying the complete devastation of Tipoca City, Kamino’s capital, which sunk to the planet’s roaring ocean following an Imperial airstrike.
It’s unclear how big of an impact the Emperor will have in the second season, or whether this is merely a cameo-like the one he made in the first episode.
Clone Commandos
The reappearance of clone commandos, an elite soldier force best known from the computer game Star Wars: Republic Commando, was a highlight of the first season. The clone commandos are the fiercest clone soldiers, equaled only by Clone Force 99’s elite operatives. They currently serve the Empire. In the season 2 teaser, we see them again, this time with an unquestionably sinister reason. Is it connected to Mount Tantiss, the hidden Imperial cloning facility that was reintroduced to canon after Season 1? The clone commandos were last seen there (as well as chief Kaminoan cloning scientist Nala Se).
Captain Rex was a significant character in The Bad Batch’s first season. He’s the former Republic officer who told Clone Force 99 the truth about the bio-chip implanted in every clone trooper’s skull and demonstrated how to remove it. His goal to overthrow the Empire, however, is far from done. In the season 2 trailer, Rex states, “Let’s go to work.”
Follow more on https://geeksultd.com
