The Mandalorian character Fennec Shand will appear in The Bad Batch series.
Last week, fans of Star Wars’ animated television offerings got a huge surprise when Disney and Lucasfilm debuted the very first footage from Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The show will be a spinoff of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and features the titular crew’s adventures through the galaxy.
When the reel was released at the Disney Investor Day presentation, some fans noticed a slightly familiar-looking character appear in the video, but nothing was confirmed as of yet. The person in question: Fennec Shand. The thing is, Fennec (played by the great Ming-Na Wen) is a live-action character who first debuted in season 1 The Mandalorian. After having died, we discovered (spoiler alert) that she was rescued by Boba Fett and repaired with a robotic midsection, essentially becoming a cyborg. But The Bad Batch takes place just after the Clone War-era. Knowing The Mandalorian takes place post-Empire, was that really Fennec?
Yes, it was! Ming-Na Wen has confirmed to StarWars.com in an interview that it certainly was her character who fans saw in the animated trailer, just a younger version of her character. Here’s what Wen had to say about the reveal:
"This is the first time I’ve been able to talk about it!Everybody is saying they just want the confirmation. So, yes, it is Fennec! It’s a younger Fennec and she is voiced by me and I’m thrilled and beyond happy that Dave wanted to create more of a backstory for her."
In the interview, Wen joked that it was quite hard for her to keep quiet about Fennec coming back, even saying that executive producer Dave Filoni shouldn’t have put her in the trailer if he wanted to keep it a secret. Luckily, Wen was able to keep tight-lipped about this, and the reveal was certainly a surprise for many.
With this show taking place prior to The Mandalorian, this does mean that the Fennec we’ll see will be slightly different from the one we met in the live-action series? While skilled, she won’t be the same as she is now. Wen explained in the interview:
"She’s cutting her teeth as a bounty hunter in The Bad Batch…She’s still a loner, a drifter…. There’s just a sense of more recklessness about her, just bravado. You know, a young punk. She’s more adventurous and willing to take greater risks because she doesn’t know what the consequences are."
The Bad Batch will premiere on Disney+ in 2021.