5 The Bad Batch stories to look out for in Season 2

After two trailers for The Bad Batch, it’s pretty safe to say that this is going to be a fun season full of a lot of surprises. There’s a lot to go over in both of them, so I decided to focus on five big storylines in season two that it looks like we’re going to get or things that need to be addressed.

Crosshair

Last we saw Crosshair, he was outed by his Imperial team member for killing the rest of his elite troopers, left for dead by the Empire on Kamino, and still chose not to go with the Bad Batch. ‘Why’ is the big question for me on this one. Is it pride? Does he really believe in what the Empire is doing? Is he still trying to make a point to Hunter that he is the better leader?

I hope it’s handled well because this is a tricky storyline. It could easily read as “The reason Crosshair stayed behind is because of plot, and we needed it for the plot.” That could fall flat really fast. Crosshair is the most enigmatic of the Batch and one of the more fascinating characters. I hope with the arrival of Cody, we really delve into Crosshair and what makes him tick.

Commander Cody

Speaking of which, hey look! It’s Commander Cody!

This is a big, big character to bring into The Bad Batch. When we’re first introduced to the group in season seven of the Clone Wars, Cody is the one who has a history with Hunter and his team. They have respect for Cody and vice versa which is why Rex and the 501st have to earn the Batch’s trust.

Cody is just as much of a victim of Order 66 as the rest of the clones. Seeing him bring up the fact that other clones are questioning the status quo of the Empire is a big deal, especially when voicing it to Crosshair. Cody wasn’t the flexible person Rex was in Clone Wars, and even then, it took the Umbara arc for Rex to truly kick off his full character arc. It feels like Cody is on the precipice of leaping into his own journey.

And I would love it if it was Cody that brought Crosshair to his senses. His brothers in the Batch have always been outliers so of course, they would be against the norm. But Cody represents the status quo, order, and rules. If Cody changes and defects, that could be eye-opening for Crosshair in the process.

What the heck is THAT thing?

Outside of this screaming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to me because my GOSH that thing looks like Vah Naboris, what the heckin’ heck is that thing!? The only solution I can possibly put it with is the Zillo Beast. According to sources like Star Wars Explain, The Bad Batch trailer shown at Celebration did show a shot of the Zillo Beast which was one of the big lingering question marks coming out of Clone Wars.

If you don’t know, the Zillo Beast episodes featured a kaiju-like monster that went on a rampage over Coruscant. Its scales could block a lightsaber making Emperor Palpatine take notice. He sent it away for experiments to be done, possibly to clone the creature. And that was it. We never heard anything else about the creature until the Celebration trailer. Maybe whatever this thing is here is the result of the Zillo Beast experiments.

Whatever it is, it looks AWESOME and I can’t wait to see it in action.

Gungi

Another lingering question mark coming out of Clone Wars was the fates of the kids of the youngling arc. Gungi was the big surprise of the first The Bad Batch trailer, and the second gives us more of a look with Echo and Omega at his side. Finally getting some answer about what happened to the other kids would be great, though I’m scared to know the truth. We know from other source materials that Hondo Ohnaka named one of his ships Katooni after the youngling he met in that arc. Did he name it that in honor of her because they were friends and she travels with him in a post-Order 66 world or because she perished? Are the other kids okay?

Gungi is going to be an emotional reunion for Clone Wars fans. We’re either going to rejoice that the other kids are okay or cry over their demise. I know that episode is going to wreck me regardless.

Emperor Palpatine and Bail Organa

As it’s my favorite planet, I’m excited we’re going to go back to Coruscant. With that, the two trailers have shown us two big cameos being Emperor Palpatine and Bail Organa.

Palpatine is not the biggest surprise because his speech was in the first episode of the series. What does have me on edge is it looks like that Omega is in the Imperial Senate with Palpatine just a few hundred feet away from her. I was not expecting that twist from the first trailer, and I wanted to know why and how she got there.

Perhaps Bail Organa is the reason. He’s still a senator in this time period. He also has ties with Ahsoka Tano as we see in Tales of the Jedi, who in turn has a connection with Rex. Captain Rex is the Batch’s main clone contact and close friend. Bail is a member of the Rebellion even if it’s not formally united yet. Perhaps the Batch needs to get him out of a sticky situation which could be the job Rex has for them. Maybe it’s Ahsoka who passed the info to Rex.

Regardless, it’s always great to have Palpatine and Bail back in Star Wars.

The honorable mention goes to Ahsoka Tano

While Ahsoka Tano is not in any of the trailers nor has she been mentioned in any of the press releases, I would be shocked if we didn’t get her at some point in the series. It might not be season two, but seeing Ahsoka at some point feels like such a given. We’ve already seen three of her allies being Rex, Trace, and Rafa Martez. With Bail Organa coming, that’s her fourth ally. While I wouldn’t call him her friend anymore, Ahsoka has also worked with Commander Cody too. It feels like she’s lingering just on the outside of everything happening in The Bad Batch. I don’t think she would have a big role in the show. I think she would be in it less than she was in Star Wars Rebels. But I can’t see a world where Ahsoka won’t show up at some point in the series.

The Batch Batch premiers exclusively on Disney+ on January 4th, 2023