Star Wars: The Bad Batch may not have a happy ending

After Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 ended in devastation, Star Wars fans were hit with another piece of sad news — even though the show is getting another season, those episodes will lead up to the series finale.

Even though many fans are hopeful for a happy ending, there’s no guarantee the show will air its final moments with happy music and warm fuzzies.

Of course, there are a few reasons this may not be the case at all. Star Wars often tells stories in “trilogies,” and this show will end on its third season, completing a tight three-act structure. Star Wars also often ends the middle act in its three-part clusters on a devastating cliffhanger — think The Empire Strikes Back, for example. This is usually followed up by a happy ending in the third act — the victory celebration at the end of Return of the Jedi.

So, logically, it would make sense that our heroes will end their story on a positive note at the final episode of The Bad Batch.

However, Star Wars animation also has a history of subverting expectations. It would make people unhappy to end the story on a sad note. But there is also a big difference between a story that ends happily but doesn’t satisfy you and a satisfying ending that still dampens your mood. And a story that satisfies, even if it doesn’t delight, would be the less predictable outcome.

Presumably, after this show ends, we won’t hear from these characters again. They don’t seem to be around during Star Wars stories that take place later in the timeline (although Captain Rex is, so this too could be a theory that falls flat). Clones are all but gone by the time the Galactic Civil War era kicks in. And it’s possible the Empire will have found other means of giving the Emperor what he wants by then, judging by things turn out later.

Just because the show may not end happily doesn’t mean everyone will be miserable. Chances are the Batch will reunite in full (sans one character in particular), Omega will be okay, Crosshair will have escaped and his brothers will have welcomed him back into their arms.

But there may be a lingering sadness that comes with all that. Victory always has a price. And who knows what else the group will lose before it’s all over?

All episodes of Star Wars: The Bad Batch are available to stream exclusively on Disney+.

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