Yesterday, Lucasfilm released the first trailer for their upcoming Star Wars animated show from Dave Filoni, and it appears that fans of that galaxy far, far away are in for a treat this May the Fourth.
Star Wars: The Bad Batch will chronicle the lives and misdeeds of Clone Force 99 after the events of the Clone Wars. Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, Crosshair, and new recruit Echo will be back alongside other familiar faces like Captain Rex, Fennec Shand, and Moff Wilhuff Tarkin at the dawn of a new era, one that’ll depict the Empire’s rise to power and the gradual dismissal of the Grand Army of the Republic in favor of Palpatine’s merciless Stormtrooper legions.
Pretty exciting stuff, indeed, but that’s hardly the only thing that’s gotten fans all worked up. In fact, alongside all the promotional content, Disney also announced that the pilot of their new series, premiering on May 4th aka Star Wars Day, will have a runtime of 70 minutes.
The Bad Batch draws a compelling contrast to what we’ve come to know and expect of clones in Star Wars lore. And perhaps that’s the reason that Filoni and the rest of the creative team at Lucasfilm decided to give this idea a go. Still, if the recent trailer is any indication, there’ll also be a certain degree of interconnectivity with the bigger narrative of the Skywalker Saga, but this time from the unique perspective of these ragged mercenaries.
As for the rather long and unusual premiere, it’s reasonable to assume that Star Wars: The Bad Batch also has a lot of setting up to do before getting down to the nitty-gritty of the plot, meaning that we can expect to see more of the aftermath of Order 66 and the fall of the Galactic Republic.