The pre-emptive problems with Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Star Wars: The Bad Batch now has a formal trailer and release date, and I’m about as worried for it as I always have been.

The show is built around the Bad Batch, a group of “defective” clones from the story arc of the same name from Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7. “Defective” meaning they’ve received desirable mutations that separates them from the other clones: better aim, super strength, enhanced senses, you name it.

But what personalities do they have, aside from a one-sentence cliche that you could stamp onto them based on their physical characteristics? If their story arc in The Clone Wars (and what we’ve seen from them in the promotional material of their own show) is any indication, then the answer to that question is this: not much.

I’ve mentioned before that one of my worries going into the show is that it would fall into the trap of a “continuity plot tumor” — basically, it would run out of stories to tell with the extremely simple main characters it already had, and end up resorting to “surprise” guest stars and continuity references galore in order to justify its continued existence. Kind of like Rebels, but with less compelling main characters.

Well, it turns out that the show’s continuity plot tumor is beginning in its very first season: Captain Rex, Fennec Shand, Grand Moff Tarkin and Saw Gerrera have all been confirmed to appear, spotted in the trailer no less. It seems that Lucasfilm has abandoned the spoiler-lite approach they took for The Mandalorian season 2 marketing campaign, possibly because they don’t have enough faith that the show will succeed on its own merits.

I’m not sure I do either.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is set to begin premiering on May 4 on Disney+