How Fennec Shand connects The Bad Batch to The Book of Boba Fett
Ever since Fennec Shand showed up in the first trailer for The Bad Batch, fans have speculated on how her role in the animated series could influence future Star Wars projects. Ming-Na Wen played the character in The Mandalorian and voices her in The Bad Batch. She will once again play the character in the upcoming live-action series The Book of Boba Fett.
Fennec has now appeared in and played a prominent role in two episodes of The Bad Batch. The events in these episodes tease possibilities of how her character’s story during the early days of the Empire could influence The Book of Boba Fett.
Warning: Spoilers ahead for season 1 episode 9 “Bounty Lost” of The Bad Batch.
“Bounty Lost” revealed that Fennec was working for the Kaminoan Nala Se. While the Kaminoan Prime Minister Lama Su hired Cad Bane to bring Omega back to Kamino, Nala Se hired Fennec to keep Omega safe and out of Lama Su’s hands.
Fennec’s showdown with Cad Bane in “Bounty Lost” could be setting up the story in The Book of Boba Fett. She killed his contact, ensured he lost the credits owed to him, bested him in their fight, made sure he lost Omega, and sabotaged his ship.
The Bad Batch could be planting the seeds of a Fennec Shand-Cad Bane rivalry that will be further explored in The Book of Boba Fett. She humiliated him in this episode and he will no doubt seek revenge. This rivalry could intensify over time and lead to Cad Bane being a prominent adversary in The Book of Boba Fett, with the audience knowing exactly how the rivalry between him and Fennec started.
According to the YouTube channel Star Wars Explained, the metal plate in Cad Bane’s head suggests that his duel with Boba Fett — an unproduced story from The Clone Wars — has already happened in the timeline, with the metal plate being necessary after the wounds Cad Bane sustained in their duel.
This would give Cad Bane a reason to have a vendetta against Boba Fett. Cad Bane could become a formidable and personal villain for both Boba and Fennec in The Book of Boba Fett. His role so far in The Bad Batch could be laying the groundwork for his live-action debut.
Instead of seeing the Cad Bane-Boba Fett duel originally meant for The Clone Wars, fans could instead see the characters face each other in an epic showdown in The Book of Boba Fett. This would arguably be more exciting as fans don’t know how long Boba Fett or Cad Bane will survive in the post-Return of the Jedi timeline that The Book of Boba Fett takes place in.
Meeting young Boba Fett?
Beyond Cad Bane, Fennec’s relationship with Omega could also be another way of The Bad Batch setting up The Book of Boba Fett. Fennec is a bounty hunter and assassin just doing her job so she can get paid, but she’s also developed an intriguing dynamic with Omega. Even when trying to apprehend Omega, Fennec tries to teach her valuable lessons about learning to rely on and protect herself. Omega arguably takes some of this advice to heart and resourcefully outsmarts Fennec at one point in “Bounty Lost.”
Through this job, Fennec may be developing an unlikely fondness for and protectiveness in regards to Omega. She was hired to protect Omega from nefarious forces and can’t help but admire how Omega has learned from and overcome these various threats.
It is possible that this fondness and protectiveness could extend to another young clone with Jango Fett’s unaltered genetic material — Boba Fett. Nala Se (or someone else for that matter) could hire Fennec to track down Boba. The fondness and protectiveness that Fennec has begun to develop for Omega could extend to Boba.
She could become an invaluable mentor and ally to Boba as he develops into becoming one of the galaxy’s best bounty hunters. This could explain the origins of her relationship with Boba, why he saved her life in The Mandalorian, and why she will continue to loyally stand by him in The Book of Boba Fett.
Regardless of where her story is headed, we are excited to see more of Fennec Shand in animated and live-action television, along with other ways that The Bad Batch could set up The Book of Boba Fett.
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