Summary
Star Wars: The Bad Batchmight be over, but the show’s legacy lives on in one of its most consequential contributions to the lore of the iconic franchise, a plot point that’s recently been reiterated the same way it was first presented: via companion media.
TheStar Warsfranchise has told all sorts of stories over its long and storied history as a multimedia giant, spanning all sorts of interesting ideas across mediums and genres. While many of these interesting stories were jettisoned from canon following Disney’s acquisition of the IP, the company would go about telling its own stories to fill up the massive holes in now-popular lore created by the existence of the Legends continuity. One project that really resonated with some fans wasThe Bad Batch,an animated spinoff show that chronicled the adventures of a group of “defective” clones in the immediate aftermath of Order 66 as shown in the final episode ofThe Clone Wars.It would run successfully beforetheStar Warsshow would rightfully end with the third season
The show would cover a lot of themes associated with identity, and while there is even aStar Warstheory that proposes that Omega was the franchise’s first onscreen trans character, there’s actually a more direct canon attempt at establishing a trans character in that continuity that recently got a second confirmation. As reported byInverse, the recently released companion guidebookStar Wars: The Secrets of the Clone Troopers,a new entry in theStar Wars Secretsseries that expands and reiterates the canon surrounding certain groups, doubles down on the existence of Sister, a clone trooper that identifies as transgender and is affirmed by both former Clone Captain Rex and Anakin Skywalker. The character was officially introduced in the companion workQueen’s Hope,a piece written from Padme Amidala’s point of view that took a major note fromThe Bad Batchin its portrayal of the Clones.
Anyone could have seen that this would be a hot topic among fans, withStar Warsfans notably getting into a debate over Trans identity on the IP’s wikionce. The portrayal of trans people has never been one of the franchise’s core goals and stands at odds with what is likely the attitude of many fans concerning such representation in media based on the franchise. While there was every opportunity to let this character exist solely in the original work they were introduced in, the decision to reiterate their existence in what is basically an official sourcebook is, if nothing else, a show of some backbone. Several reviews on the book’s Amazon page take issue with the character’s inclusion in addition to complaints about the fragility of the interactable elements. However, it’s clear that Sister is the cumulation of the animatedStar Warsuniverse’s attempts to fully humanize the monotone clone troopers so briefly seen in the prequel series. For better or worse,Queen’s HopeandStar Wars: The Secrets of the Clone Troopersare the only media that take this goal to its logical, human endpoint by showing just how much a clone can struggle with identity when surrounded by thousands of genetically identical siblings.
While it’s up for debate whether or notThe Bad Batchcorrected theStar Warsfranchise’s trajectory, what is certain is that the show did a lot of new and unique things within the franchise while still providing older fans with a lot of deep lore and earnest storytelling. With the gradual decline in animatedStar Warscontent under the Disney banner, it’s unlikely that there’ll be anything likeThe Bad Batchagain anytime soon, and even the most disinterested fans might find that they miss it and the ideas that it inspired after all.
Star Wars: The Bad Batchis available to stream on Disney+.
Star Wars
Star Wars is a multimedia franchise originally created by George Lucas and Lucasfilm Ltd with the 1977 motion picture. The science fiction franchise follows the adventures of characters (both humanoid and alien) in outer space including those who can wield a mystical power known as the Force. Since the release of the original trilogy of movies, the franchise has expanded to include multiple films and branched out to other media like comics, video games, tv shows, theme park attractions, and more. The IP and Lucasfilm were sold to Disney in 2012.
