In the world of Star Wars, there are many people who choose to go down a dangerous path that leads them to the underworld of the galaxy. These criminals and gangsters run amuck in a galaxy far, far away, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch introduced us to a new crime family that’s taking a stake in everything.
In The Bad Batch episode 13, “Infested,” the clone force find themselves out of luck on Ord Mantell when Cid is no longer running her establishment. Instead, sitting in her office is Roland Durand, a Devaronian man who claims the parlor and Ord Mantell are all his territory. And if they want more work, they can report to him.
Clearly, the Bad Batch found him suspicious and didn’t want anything to do with this Roland character. And their suspicions were correct when Cid confirmed that he and his family are up to no good. The rest of the episode pits the Bad Batch against Roland and his creditors, the Pyke family, who threatened Roland and the Durands after their deal went bad. But who are these people in the Durand family? Here’s what we know.
Roland Durand and Isa Durand explained
The Bad Batch episode 13 is the first time we see Roland Durand on screen ever. He was briefly mentioned in episode 7, “Battle Scars,” but that was nothing substantial. We then learn from Cid that he was a former client of hers. (The pet lizard Ruby was delivered to him by the Bad Batch.) He is also the son of Isa Durand, a crime boss who is first mentioned in this episode.
Cid claims Roland wanted to make a name for himself by doing business with the Pyke family. But there was something quite off about Roland by the end of the episode. When the Pyke family had Omega and Roland as their prisoners, Roland was quite open with Omega, and he didn’t appear to be the hardened criminal that he presented himself as in the beginning.
He recited to Omega rather unenthusiastically: “You take what you want. That’s the Durand way. It’s a tactic my mother has perfected.”
He doesn’t seem all to happy too be abiding by those rules himself. And for someone who could be a leading criminal on his own, he credits everything to his mother rather than himself. Being born into a crime family isn’t easy as is. So it’s likely stepping into that role is just something Roland is used to, but not really passionate about. Family businesses tend to work that way sometimes.
Still, he scoffs at Omega when she questions that his mother is a criminal as well, so he may have some shred of respect for his line of business.
More will likely develop as The Bad Batch goes on, because it looks like we have a lot to learn about Roland, Isa and the Durand family.