The boys of Clone Force 99 are back for one final battle, as Lucasfilm has released the trailer and airdate for the final season of Star Wars: The Bad Batch. This Dave Filoni-created spinoff of The Clone Wars will drop its last fifteen episodes on February 21, with the first three episodes of season three releasing all at once. New episodes will then air weekly on Wednesdays, with the finale dropping on May 1. The crew is back to rescue Omega from the clutches of the Empire. But the big reveal is the stinger at the end of the trailer. Watch The Bad Batch season three trailer below, and then we’ll talk about that big surprise.
At the end of the trailer, we hear a voice very familiar to fans of The Clone Wars. It’s Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress, former dark side warrior and apprentice to Count Dooku. She went through quite the character arc in the series, starting seemingly as pure evil. But when Dooku betrayed her at Darth Sidious’ command, she became a bounty hunter and occasional reluctant ally to the Jedi. Now, Ventress never died on-screen in The Clone Wars, but a story arc meant for the show became a canon novel, Dark Disciple by Christie Golden. In that book, Ventress fell in love with rogue Jedi Quinlan Vos and sacrificed herself to save him from Dooku. But as her official entry in the Star Wars databank now says, “That wasn’t the end of Asajj’s story…” Bad Batch supervising director Brad Rau said the following in regards to her apparent death.
We don’t want to spoil anything, but want fans to know that any new storytelling with Ventress will align with the events of Star Wars: Dark Disciple.”
Ventress has grown her hair out and is wielding a yellow lightsaber. It seems her days fighting with the crimson sabers of the Sith are long behind her. But during these times when Jedi are hunted, sporting any kind of lightsaber is asking for trouble. It would be interesting if she joined the Bad Batch as a bounty hunter, in an effort to rescue Omega from Mount Tantiss. That’s the mysterious mountain base that houses the Emperor’s hidden experiments. Speaking of the Emperor, it looks like he’ll have a bigger role to play as well this season. We can’t wait to find out what happens to our favorite Clone squad. The Bad Batch returns for one last fight on February 21.