First look at Star Wars: The Bad Batch coming in D23 magazine

Clone Force 99 is coming soon to a TV near you, and later this month, Disney promises a first look at the clone group’s new animated show Star Wars: The Bad Batch.

This week, Disney teased that the spring 2021 issue of D23 magazine will go “behind the blasters of the new Disney+ series Star Wars: The Bad Batch with Dee Bradley Baker.”

The Bad Batch animated series was announced in July 2020 as a post-The Clone Wars series from Dave Filoni (The Mandalorian, The Clone Wars). During Disney’s Investor Day in December, The Bad Batch got its first sizzle reel alongside announcements and teasers for a slew of new Star Wars shows and movies on the way.

The series is a spinoff sequel to The Clone Wars and features the voice talents of Dee Bradley Baker — who voiced the troopers in The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels — and Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand (The Mandalorian). The Bad Batch troopers were introduced in The Clone Wars as Clone Force 99, a “unique squad of clones who vary genetically from their brothers in the Clone Army.”

Their names are Wrecker, Tech, Crosshair, Hunter and Echo. A short summary of the group from StarWars.com:

"They call themselves the Bad Batch, but the motley crew that makes up Clone Force 99 boasts an astounding 100 percent success rate and skills unseen in any other clone troopers. Adept at working together, Hunter, Wrecker, Tech, and Crosshair use their unique talents and specialized physiology to execute extraordinary solutions on the battlefield. And after rescuing the clone trooper Echo from Separatist captivity, they welcome the cybernetic soldier into their fold."

The Bad Batch troopers were last seen adding Echo to their group and going off to continue fighting for the Republic, and The Clone Wars finale didn’t reveal what the group did after Order 66 was executed. It’s likely the series will pick up immediately following the end of the Clone War and the beginnings of the Galactic Empire.

In the teaser, there’s even a shot of the Emperor declaring that “the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire” — a scene directly out of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.

We don’t yet have a release date for The Bad Batch, but Disney and Star Wars said the series would arrive in 2021 on Disney+. With a first look coming in D23 this month, fans are hopeful that comes with a release date.

For more info on The Bad Batch and other Star Wars series, keep up with the Star Wars TV Shows category on Dork Side of the Force!