Star Wars: The Bad Batch arrives on Disney+ tomorrow, an appropriate choice considering May 4th is better known as "Star Wars Day." Recently, ComicBookMovie.com was on hand for the show's global press conference, and producer/head writer Jennifer Corbett and voice actor Dee Bradley Baker were among those in attendance.
The series (check out our initial reaction before the review embargo lifts tomorrow by clicking here) takes place immediately after the events of Revenge of the Sith, and that obviously means dealing with the fallout of Order 66.
Talking at the event, both Corbett and Baker opened up abput how the show tackles the Jedi "purge" and the challenges the Bad Batch face in a Galaxy that's vastly different.
"I just found it intriguing and engaging to watch a series where, you know, we've seen the Clone Wars where it's the height of the Clone Troopers doing what they're meant to do, and what they were created for," Corbett explained. "The question became, 'What happens after the war is over? What happens to clones who all they know is being soldiers?' Especially for the Bad Batch who do things differently as it is with the Republic and how they fit in once it becomes the Empire."
"Obviously, two very different regimes, and how they react to this new environment and the new way of doing things and new way of following rules. Which again, isn't their favourite thing to do. It was interesting to talk about the transition from the Republic to the Empire and what that looks like because it's not what we saw in the original trilogy, where it's the dominance of the Empire."
It's kind of like the early stages, and I found it interesting to show planets and places that were happy that the war is over, and they don't really understand the implications of what an Empire actually means," the writer concluded. "And it's kind of just laying the groundwork for what everyone knows the Empire to be later on."
Baker also weighed in by adding: "It's an interesting point you make there, Jen, that in the transition...the sudden, shocking transition from Republic to Empire, that it becomes a suddenly much more rule-based power structure of the galaxy. The Bad Batch is not so much a rule-based unit [Laughs]. They're very much a team, but they're not like the Clones are, where it’s more of a top-down command structure. It's very interesting to place them in the middle of this transformational moment and to see how that plays out."
While we have witnessed some of the aftermath of Emperor Palpatine taking over the Galaxy with the Empire, that immediate fallout is new territory, especially when it comes to how the Clones dealt with what happened. Order 66 essentially turned those heroes into villains, but the Bad Batch...well, they're a different beast altogether, especially as they're not traditional Clones.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch is streaming exclusively on Disney+ starting May 4th. Check out a newly revealed character poster for the series below: