This article contains spoilers for The Bad Batch Season 2.
The most recent season of The Bad Batch was filled with intense moments, but none was more dramatic than the final episode, when the clones found themselves trapped on a damaged rail car sliding precariously towards a ravine. To stop the car from being pulled from the track, Tech enacted Plan 99, a code used to signify his intention to sacrifice himself to help his friends survive. His heroic actions brought down his rail car so the other one could escape, breaking the hearts of his squad and fans alike.
This shocking moment immediately sparked theories for how Tech could have survived his fall, as many fans hoped to see one of their favorite clones again in the final season of the show. Now, the voice actor behind the clones, Dee Bradley Baker, may have given confirmation that Tech has indeed died in a panel at Fan Expo Denver.
“A clone would ask for nothing more than a meaningful death, whereby they save their brothers, and they keep the mission alive, and that was accomplished. That is a good ending for a clone. A clone could not ask for a better ending than that.”
With this message to his fans, Baker has not only solidified the idea that Tech has died but reframed this death as something beautiful. Baker shared his own sadness at Tech’s absence but went on to say that “it’s not a tragedy; it’s a triumph”.
Looking at Plan 99 from Tech’s perspective, it becomes easier to see the triumph of his actions, the happiness he may have felt by giving his life for the people he loved. Many clones who went on to serve the Empire ended up without a purpose after being ousted from their lives as soldiers. We can be thankful that Tech never had to experience such hopelessness, and instead was given the chance to make both his life and death meaningful.
Baker stated, “A good story, just like a good life, has to have a beginning, middle, and end.” Tech made many contributions to the team, from the moment we met him in The Clone Wars to his final moments. If this is the end for Tech, it might be time to accept his death and begin celebrating his life, just as Dee Bradley Baker is doing.