Summary

  • Star Wars: The Bad Batch series finale wraps up the 16-year exploration of the Clone Wars, giving closure to the conflict.
  • The Bad Batch serves as an epilogue to the Clone Wars, showing the aftermath of the Republic's fall and the Empire's rise.
  • Dee Bradley Baker hints his journey voicing clones is ending, marking The Bad Batch as the official end of a clone era.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch’s series finale marks the end of the franchise’s 16-year exploration of the Clone Wars. Set up in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, the Star Wars prequel trilogy skipped over most of the action and political intrigue of the war. By the time Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith takes place, the Separatist vs. Republic conflict was already nearing its inevitably tragic conclusion, as Palpatine made his final play for Anakin Skywalker’s soul. Still, though, the Clone Wars was one of the galaxy’s biggest and most pivotal turning points, and Star Wars was determined to do it justice.

That’s where Star Wars: The Clone Wars came in. Though Genndy Tartakovsky had previously animated a few Clone Wars-era stories, it wasn’t until Lucasfilm’s The Clone Wars movie that any Clone Wars stories were considered canon. Next came the seven-season series, which took a closer look at the Separatists’ motivations, the galaxy’s political turmoil, the Jedi’s role in the conflict, Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s personal lives, but perhaps most importantly, the lives of the clone troopers as well. Star Wars: The Clone Wars gave the clones a voice. Their stories and the Clone Wars conflict overall have now come to an end with The Bad Batch finale.

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Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 3 Ending Explained (& What Happened To Clone Force 99)

Star Wars: The Bad Batch season 3’s ending brought the show to a close, providing plenty of reveals, action sequences, and character conclusions.

The Bad Batch Works Best As An Epilogue For The Clone Wars

Though Star Wars: The Bad Batch mostly focused on a very specific group of clones, namely the uniquely genetically altered clones of Clone Force 99, the show essentially functioned as an epilogue for the Clone Wars. Through the eyes of the Bad Batch, and their newest member, Omega, audiences were given a glimpse at the destruction left behind after the fall of the Republic, the rise of the Empire, and the annihilation of the Jedi Order. The Clone Wars may technically have come to an end, but the conflict itself didn’t – the two sides were merely given different names.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch has not been renewed for a fourth season.

After all, for the first few months, the Empire still used many of the Republic’s resources, including the clone troopers. The Bad Batch depicted how and why the Empire transitioned from clone troopers to stormtroopers, as well as the overhaul of the Senate. All these changes were part of Palpatine’s grand design, and as such, can be seen as an extension of the Clone Wars. Since Clone Force 99 was initially introduced in The Clone Wars season 7, and the series began with the harrowing events of Order 66, The Bad Batch is ultimately an addition to the story – an epilogue, if you will.

Dee Bradley Baker Has Hinted His Clone Journey Is Over

Clone Force 99, including Echo, Crosshair, Hunter, Omega, Tech, and Wrecker, stand together in The Bad Batch season 1 over an edited background
Custom Image by Debanjana Chowdhury

Dee Bradley Baker, who has famously voiced all the clones since the Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie, including each original member of the Bad Batch, has hinted that his journey voicing the clones has come to an end. It’s not just that, however. When speaking to the New York Times, Baker hinted that the story of the clones overall has come to an end, too. According to the article, there are currently “no plans for a clone show.”

Baker has voiced hundreds of clones and other Star Wars characters during his tenure. His impact is undeniable – he brought the clones to life and gave them a true purpose within the franchise.

Some of the clone characters may live on in live-action, as Captain Rex recently made a cameo appearance in Ahsoka, for instance, but Baker would, in that case, (hopefully) pass the torch on to Temuera Morrison, who portrayed the clones and Jango Fett in the prequel movies, and Boba Fett in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. Baker has voiced hundreds of clones and other Star Wars characters during his tenure. His impact is undeniable – he brought the clones to life and gave them a true purpose within the franchise. Without him, what's left?

The Bad Batch Is Officially The End Of An Era

Bad batch clone force 99

If it’s true that Lucasfilm currently isn’t planning on telling any more clone-related stories – although there certainly are a few possibilities, as Captain Rex and Echo could still lead a clone uprising against the Empire, and it would also be interesting to know how Rex, Wolffe, and Gregor ended up on Seelos in Star Wars Rebels – then The Bad Batch truly is the end of an era. The further the story moves away from the prequel era, the fewer clones there are to follow, as regular clone troopers also age more rapidly than other characters.

The surviving members of Clone Force 99 lived out their days in peace on Pabu, and an adult Omega is now off living her own life as a pilot for the Rebel Alliance. Perhaps it truly is time to let these characters rest. The clones did their part in the galaxy, and they fulfilled their role in the story beautifully. As Star Wars (finally) begins to explore other parts of the timeline with The High Republic, The Acolyte, Dawn of the Jedi, and New Jedi Order, the franchise can allow itself to move beyond the Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Bad Batch.