What episodes to watch before Star Wars: The Bad Batch

Episodes based on Saw Gerrera

At some point in the first season of The Bad Batch, Clone Force 99 meets up with resistance fighter and rebel extremist Saw Gerrera. Whether he needs their help or vice versa, it’ll be interesting to see how Saw and the enhanced clones get along. Will Saw’s morally questionable techniques rub Clone Force 99 the wrong way? It’s more than likely, since Saw has a reputation for putting civilians in the direct line of fire. Then again, Hunter and the gang have their own unique ways of fighting and accomplishing missions, making Captain Rex and other “regular” clones question their methods. It’s possible Clone Force 99 and Saw discover they might have a few things in common with each other.

Before the series premiere, watch Saw’s origin story and see the reason why he treads on the extreme side of things after The Clone Wars and further into the future.

Onderon Arc, The Clone Wars

Episodes: “A War on Two Fronts” (season 5, episode 2), “Front Runners” (season 5, episode 3), “The Soft Wars” (season 5, episode 4), “Tipping Points” (season 5, episode 5)

Saw and his sister, Steela Gerrera, spend most of their youth fighting against the droid army on their Separatist-aligned homeworld, Onderon. At some point during the war, the Jedi Order send Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, and Captain Rex to train the Onderanian fighters and give them a better chance at driving the Separatists away from their home. The fight comes at a personal cost for Saw and pushes him to the extreme, his ruthless attacks over the years labeling him a terrorist.

“Ghosts of Geonosis,” Star Wars Rebels (season 3, episodes 12-13)

Rex and Saw reunite once again, but this time, it’s on Geonosis. Ezra Bridger notices the desperation in Saw’s actions and the radical behavior he exhibits toward one of the Geonosian survivors. This two-part episode captures Ezra’s nature to observe and ask questions (traits we hope to see in Omega) and contains this eye-opening quote from Kanan Jarrus, “Ezra, you’re going to find not all of our allies share the same values or even fight the Empire for the same reason we do.”

If you want a deeper look at how Saw wages war against the Empire, make sure to check out the Star Wars Rebels two-part episode “In the Name of the Rebellion” and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.