''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' is an American animated television series created by

Dave Filoni David Filoni (born June 7, 1974) is an American director, producer, and screenwriter currently serving as the chief creative officer of Lucasfilm. He directed multiple episodes of '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'', before being hired by George Lu ...

for the streaming service

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

. It is part of the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' franchise and a spin-off from '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', continuing from the end of that series to depict the aftermath of Order 66 and the end of the

Clone Wars The Clone Wars, also known as the Separatist Crisis, is a fictional three-year conflict in the ''Star Wars'' franchise by George Lucas. Though mentioned briefly in the first ''Star Wars'' film (''A New Hope'', 1977), the war itself was not depic ...

. ''The Bad Batch'' follows a unique squad of

clone trooper Clone troopers are fictional characters from the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. First introduced in the live-action film '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'' (2002), they have since appeared in various other ...

s with genetic mutations who resist Order 66 and go on the run in the early days of the

Galactic Empire Galactic empires are a science fiction setting trope, in which most or all of the habitable planets in the setting's galaxy are ruled by a single centralized political entity. Galactic empires most frequently appear in works in the sub-genre ...

. They are joined by Omega, a young female clone.

Dee Bradley Baker Dee Bradley Baker (born August 31, 1962) is an American voice actor. Much of his work has consisted of vocalizations of animals and monsters. Baker's roles include animated series such as '' Adventure Time'', ''American Dad!'', '' Avatar: The Las ...

voices the Bad Batch, as well as most of the other clones in the series, as he did in ''The Clone Wars''.

Michelle Ang Michelle Ang (born 17 October 1983) is a New Zealand actress, director and producer, working primarily in film and television. She has won various professional awards, including ''Best Actress'' at the New Zealand Film & Television Awards, whi ...

voices Omega. The series was announced in July 2020, after the final season of ''The Clone Wars'' introduced the Bad Batch based on an idea from ''Star Wars'' creator

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

. ''The Bad Batch'' was produced by

Lucasfilm Animation Lucasfilm Animation Ltd. LLC is an American animation studio and subsidiary of Lucasfilm, originally established in 2005. Its first major productions were the feature film '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' and its associated television series, both ...

, with Jennifer Corbett as

head writer A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio ...

and Brad Rau as

supervising director An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated or television film, or an animated segment for a live-action film or television show. Alternatively, the animation directo ...

; Filoni, Corbett, and Rau served as executive producers with Athena Yvette Portillo. The first season premiered on May 4, 2021, and ran for 16 episodes until August 13. A 16-episode second season was released from January 4 to March 29, 2023, and a 15-episode third and final season was released from February 21 to May 1, 2024. The series has received positive reviews from critics, particularly for its animation and voice acting.

Premise

In the ''

'' universe, the

is a series of conflicts between the

Galactic Republic The Galactic Republic, commonly known as The Republic, is a fictional political entity in the ''Star Wars'' universe that predates the formation of the Galactic Empire. It is prominently featured in the prequel trilogy of ''Star Wars'' fil ...

and a

Separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, regional, governmental, or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seekin ...

movement; the name comes from the Republic's army, which consists of

s created from the genetic material of bounty hunter

Jango Fett Jango Fett is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, created by George Lucas. He first appeared as the secondary antagonist of the 2002 film '' Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones'', played by Temuera Morrison. The ch ...

. Clone Force 99, also known as "The Bad Batch", is a unique squad of clones with genetic mutations that were introduced in the series '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars''. These mutations allow most of the Bad Batch to resist Order 66, which brings the Clone Wars to an end by triggering secret programming in the clones that forces them to execute the

Jedi Jedi (), Jedi Knights, or collectively the Jedi Order are fictional characters, and often protagonists, featured in many works within the '' Star Wars'' franchise. Working symbiotically alongside the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Order is depic ...

and become obedient to

Emperor Palpatine Sheev Palpatine ( ) is the main antagonist of the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He first appeared in the 1980 film ''The Empire Strikes Back'' as . He is also known by his Sith name, Darth Sidious, which was first used in the Star Wars: Episode I � ...

and the new

. ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' follows the titular team as they become mercenaries on the run in the early days of the Empire. They are joined by Omega, a young female clone of Jango Fett. The series also tells the stories of other clones following the end of the Clone Wars, including how some begin to question Order 66, how the Empire phases out the clone army in favor of conscripted

Stormtroopers Stormtrooper or storm trooper may refer to: Military *Stormtroopers (Imperial Germany), specialist soldier of the German Army in World War I *''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) or Storm Detachment, a paramilitary organization of the German Nazi Party * 8th I ...

, and how Imperial cloning resources are re-directed to "Project Necromancer"—a secret project to clone Palpatine that helps explain that character's return from death in the film '' Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker'' (2019).

Episodes

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2023)

Season 3 (2024)

Cast and characters

Starring

as the Bad Batch:
Also known as Clone Force 99, the Bad Batch are a unique squad of

s with genetic mutations. ''

'' creator

wanted them to each have special abilities that made them different from other clones, but he did not want them to be superheroes. The Bad Batch includes:

Hunter Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, and killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to obtain the animal's body for meat and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, ...

, the leader of the team who has enhanced senses and is described as a "master tracker"; Wrecker, who has enhanced muscles and a reinforced skeleton making him very strong;

Crosshair A reticle or reticule, also known as a graticule or crosshair, is a pattern of fine lines or markings built into the eyepiece of an optical device such as a telescopic sight, spotting scope, theodolite, optical microscope or the screen of ...

, a skilled sniper; Tech, a genius who specializes in technology; and

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

, a former regular clone or "reg" who was turned into a cyborg through horrific experimentation and can now interface with computer systems. Despite being clones, Baker made sure the team had noticeable differences in each voice, such as Tech's precision and Crosshair sounding like a "coiled snake". ** As he did for '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', Baker also voices most of the other clones in the series, including: Grey, the captain under

Jedi Master Jedi (), Jedi Knights, or collectively the Jedi Order are fictional characters, and often protagonists, featured in many works within the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Working symbiotically alongside the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Order is depicte ...

Depa Billaba during Order 66; Cut Lawquane, a

deserter who goes into hiding with his family; Rex, a former captain who was believed killed at the end of the Clone Wars and now works in secret to help other clones and resist the

Empire An empire is a political unit made up of several territories, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

; Howzer, a captain on Ryloth who supports local freedom fighters over the Empire; Gregor, a commando working with Rex; Wilco, a captain stationed on Serenno who is murdered by Vice Admiral Rampart for refusing to falsify a report; Cody, a commander who deserts after starting to question the Empire during a mission with Crosshair; Cade and Slip, clones who are killed by Rampart as part of a conspiracy to cover-up the destruction of Tipoca City; Scorch, a commando who leads the Advanced Science Division's forces; Mayday, the commander of a desolate outpost on Barton IV whose death is a catalyst for Crosshair turning on the Empire; Fireball and Nemec, members of Rex's group of rogue clones; the Clone X assassins; and Wolffe, a commander sent to capture Omega who is talked down by Rex. Baker added subtle differences to the voice of each clone. ** Baker reprised the role of Barton Coburn, an Imperial admiral who attends Tarkin's summit, from ''The Clone Wars''. He also provided the sounds for Batcher, a lurca hound that Omega befriends. *

Omega Omega (, ; uppercase Ω, lowercase ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and last letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value ...

:
A young female clone who joins the Bad Batch. She is an unmodified replication of

, so she ages normally unlike the Bad Batch and other clones who age at twice the normal speed. This means Omega is technically older than most of the other clones, despite appearing to be much younger. Her name is a reference to the first unmodified clone of Jango Fett, "Alpha", who is better known as Jango's son Boba. To create Omega's voice, Ang used her own New Zealand accent but altered her pitch and state of mind to give the character a "youthfulness". Ang also took inspiration from watching her young son have new experiences.

Recurring

Introduced in other ''Star Wars'' media

Ben Diskin Benjamin Diskin (born August 25, 1982) is an American actor. Early life Diskin was born on August 25, 1982 in Los Angeles County, California to a Jewish family. Career In 1991, Diskin won the "Outstanding Young Ensemble Cast in a Motion Pictur ...

as AZI-3: A medical droid from Kamino who helps the Bad Batch *

Bob Bergen Robert Berger (born March 8, 1964), known professionally as Bob Bergen, is an American voice actor. He voices Warner Bros. cartoon characters Porky Pig and Tweety and has voiced characters in the English dubs of various anime. He formerly hosted ...

as Lama Su: The prime minister of Kamino *

Gwendoline Yeo Gwendoline See-Hian Yeo (; born 10 July 1977) is an actress based in the United States. Born in Singapore, she moved to California in 1988 and began acting in sitcoms such as '' Grounded for Life'' and '' The Random Years''. Yeo is known for her ...

as Nala Se: The Kaminoan scientist in charge of the cloning process *

Stephen Stanton Stephen Walter Stanton (born August 22, 1961) is an American voice actor and visual effects artist. His roles include Sasha Nein in ''Psychonauts'' and '' Psychonauts 2'', Grand Moff Tarkin in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, Ben Kenobi in '' Star ...

as ** Wilhuff Tarkin: A high-ranking Imperial officer ** Mas Amedda: The Grand Vizier of the Empire *

Jennifer Hale Jennifer Hale is a Canadian voice actress. She is best known for her work in video game franchises such as ''Baldur's Gate'', ''Mass Effect'', '' Metal Gear Solid'', '' BioShock Infinite'', '' Metroid Prime'', '' Halo'', '' Overwatch'', and '' ...

as Riyo Chuchi: A Pantoran senator who advocates for the clones

Introduced in season one

* Noshir Dalal as Rampart: An Imperial vice admiral who is responsible for the new conscripted Stormtrooper program *

Liam O'Brien Liam Christopher O'Brien (born May 28, 1976) is an American voice actor, writer, and director. He is a regular cast member of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' actual play series '' Critical Role,'' playing Vax'ildan ("Vax"), Caleb Widogast, and Orym. ...

as Bolo: An Ithorian regular at Cid's parlor *

Sam Riegel Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel (born October 9, 1976) is an American voice actor. He is best known for his voice roles as Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Donatello in the 2003 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 TV series), Teenage Mutant ...

as Ketch: A Weequay regular at Cid's parlor *

Rhea Perlman Rhea Jo Perlman (born March 31, 1948) is an American actress and author. She is well-known for playing head waitress Carla Tortelli in the sitcom ''Cheers'' (1982–1993). Over the course of eleven seasons, Perlman was nominated for ten Emmy Awar ...

Cid Scaleback This incomplete list of characters from the ''Star Wars'' franchise contains only those which are considered part of the official ''Star Wars'' canon, as of the changes made by Lucasfilm in April 2014. Following its acquisition by The Walt Di ...

: A Trandoshan and former Jedi informant who provides mercenary work to the Bad Batch *

Shelby Young Shelby Young (born 8 April 1992) is an American actress and voice actress. She is known for her roles on ''American Horror Story'', ''Days of Our Lives'', ''The Social Network'' and in the ''Star Wars'' video games, as well as her presence on so ...

as ** Bragg: An Imperial captain stationed on Raxus Secundus ** Yanna: A

Wookiee Wookiees () are fictional humanoid aliens in the ''Star Wars'' universe, native to the forest planet Kashyyyk. They are distinguished from humans by their gigantism, hirsutism, and physical strength. The most prominent Wookiee in the films is ...

elder ** Bayrn: A Tarlafar who is a young Project Necromancer test subject with a high M-count * Helen Sadler as Scalder: A doctor in the Empire's Advanced Science Division

Introduced in season two

Wanda Sykes Wanda Yvette Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on ''The Chris Rock Show'', for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, ''Entertainme ...

as Phee Genoa: A pirate contact of Cid's who befriends the Bad Batch * Jimmi Simpson as Royce Hemlock: The director of the Empire's Advanced Science Division (ASD) *

Keisha Castle-Hughes Keisha Castle-Hughes (born 24 March 1990) is a New Zealand actress. She made her acting debut in the drama film '' Whale Rider'' (2002), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the second-youngest nominee ...

as Emerie Karr: An adult female clone of Jango Fett who works for the ASD

Introduced in season three

* Ivan Sinitsin as Jax: A Mirialan who is a young Project Necromancer test subject with a high M-count, designated SP-32 * Olwyn M. Whelan as Eva: An Iktotchi who is a young Project Necromancer test subject with a high M-count, designated SP-54 * Naiya Singh Padilla as Sami: A Pantoran who is a young Project Necromancer test subject with a high M-count, designated SP-39

Guests

Introduced in other ''Star Wars'' media

Archie Panjabi Archana Panjabi (born 31 May 1972) is an English actress. She has had various roles in both British and American television including as Maya Roy in ''Life on Mars'' (2006–2007), Kalinda Sharma in ''The Good Wife'' (2009–2015), Nas Kamal ...

as Depa Billaba: A Jedi Master who is killed during Order 66. Her death is depicted differently from how it was established in the '' Kanan'' comic book. * Matthew Wood as ** The battle droids of the

army ** Bib Fortuna: The majordomo and right-hand of crime lord

Jabba the Hutt Jabba Desilijic Tiure, better known as Jabba the Hutt ( ) is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Initially performed by Declan Mulholland as a human in the original ''Star Wars'' film, Jabba first appeared properly in the 198 ...

Freddie Prinze Jr. Freddie James Prinze Jr. (born March 8, 1976) is an American actor. He has starred in films such as '' I Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1997) and its sequel '' I Still Know What You Did Last Summer'' (1998), '' She's All That'' (1999), '' Down ...

as Caleb Dume: The Padawan learner of Depa Billaba who escapes Order 66. This is depicted differently from how it was established in the ''Kanan'' comic book. *

Ian McDiarmid Ian McDiarmid ( ; born 11 August 1944) is a Scottish actor and director of stage and screen. Making his stage debut in ''Hamlet'' in 1972, McDiarmid joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1974, and has since starred in a number of Shakespeare's ...

Palpatine Sheev Palpatine ( ) is the main antagonist of the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He first appeared in the 1980 film ''The Empire Strikes Back'' as . He is also known by his Sith name, Darth Sidious, which was first used in the novelization of the 199 ...

: The Emperor of the Galactic Empire and a Dark Lord of the

Sith The Sith are the main antagonists in the fictional universe of the ''Star Wars'' franchise. They are the antithesis and ancient enemies of the Jedi. The Sith Order is depicted as an ancient cult of warriors who draw strength from the dark sid ...

Andrew Kishino Andrew Kishino (born March 20, 1970), also known as Big Kish (formerly Kish), is a Canadian voice actor. Life and career As a musician, Kishino is best known for his 1991 single "I Rhyme the World in 80 Days". The song was featured on his de ...

Saw Gerrera Saw Gerrera is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He first was introduced in a 2012 episode of the animated series '' The Clone Wars'', in which he is voiced by Andrew Kishino. Hailing from the planet Onderon alongside his si ...

: A freedom fighter from

Onderon The fictional universe of the ''Star Wars'' franchise features multiple planets and moons. While only the feature films and selected other works are considered canon to the franchise since the 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm by The Walt Disne ...

Tom Kane Tom Kane (born 1962) is an American former voice actor. He is known for his work in animation and video games, most notably the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Career Kane began his voice acting career in 1977 when he was just 14 years old. Some of his ...

as the narrator of a ''The Clone Wars''-style opening sequence. Because the Clone Wars come to an end in the first episode of the series, the narration is not used for subsequent episodes. * Nika Futterman as ** Shaeeah Lawquane: The stepdaughter of clone deserter Cut Lawquane **

Asajj Ventress Asajj Ventress () is a character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. She was introduced in Genndy Tartakovsky's 2003 animated series ''Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 TV series), Star Wars: Clone Wars'' (voiced by Grey DeLisle). ...

:
The apprentice of

Count Dooku Count Dooku, also known as Darth Tyranus, is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in the prequel film trilogy, first appearing in ''Attack of the Clones'' (2002) and then returning in ''Revenge of the Sith'' (2 ...

during the Clone Wars who later becomes a bounty hunter. The character's last appearance in the ''Star Wars'' timeline was the 2015 novel ''

Dark Disciple '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' is an American 3D CGI animated television series created by Lucasfilm Animation, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore, and CGCG Inc. The debut film was released in theaters on August 15, 2008; it served as the introduc ...

'', which was adapted from unproduced ''The Clone Wars'' scripts and story reels. In the book, Ventress falls in love with rogue Jedi

Quinlan Vos Quinlan Vos is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Vos was voiced by Al Rodrigo in the Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series), ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' television series. The character also appears in various canon an ...

and sacrifices herself to save him. When executive producer

suggested the character be brought back for the third season of ''The Bad Batch'', the producers worked out a way for Ventress to survive those events which they planned to reveal in a future ''Star Wars'' story. Her appearance in ''The Bad Batch'' is based on design work done for the unproduced ''The Clone Wars'' episodes, including longer hair and a new yellow

lightsaber A lightsaber is a fictional energy sword featured throughout ''Star Wars''. A typical lightsaber is shown as a luminous laser sword about in length emitted from a metal hilt around in length. First introduced in the original ''Star Wars'' ...

. Futterman was excited to portray a lighter version of the character. *

Kath Soucie Kath Soucie (, ). is an American voice actress, known for voicing Phil, Lil and their mother Betty DeVille in '' Rugrats'', Lola Bunny in the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise, Fifi La Fume and Li'l Sneezer in ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Maddie Fent ...

as Jek Lawquane: The stepson of clone deserter Cut Lawquane *

Cara Pifko Cara Pifko is a Canadians, Canadian actress known primarily for her work on television shows produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Life and career Pifko was born in Toronto to Esther Pifko (née Taub). Her older brother is Andrew Pi ...

as Suu Lawquane: The wife of clone deserter Cut Lawquane *

Ming-Na Wen Ming-Na Wen (; born November 20, 1963) is an American actress and model. She has won multiple awards throughout her career, including an Annie Award and a Saturn Award, in addition to a nomination for a Screen Actors Guild Award. She was honore ...

Fennec Shand Fennec Shand is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise portrayed by Ming-Na Wen in the Disney+ television series ''The Mandalorian'', '' The Bad Batch'', and ''The Book of Boba Fett''. An elite mercenary and assassin, she was intr ...

: An elite mercenary and sniper * Brigitte Kali as Trace Martez: An ex-smuggler turned freedom fighter and Rafa's younger sister *

Elizabeth Rodriguez Elizabeth Rodriguez is an American actress. She began her career appearing in films ''Fresh'' (1994), ''Dead Presidents'' (1995), '' I Think I Do'' (1997) and '' Blow'' (2001). She played Detective Gina Calabrese in the 2006 film adaptation of ...

as Rafa Martez: An ex-smuggler turned freedom fighter and Trace's older sister *

Corey Burton Corey Burton is an American voice actor. He is the current voice of Captain Hook, Ludwig Von Drake and others for The Walt Disney Company, Shockwave on '' The Transformers'', Brainiac in the DC Animated Universe, Count Dooku and Cad Bane in ...

as **

Cad Bane Cad Bane is a character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. Created by George Lucas, Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy, he first appeared in the animated series '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' (voiced by Corey Burton). Burton would return to voice Ban ...

: An infamous bounty hunter ** Gobi Glie: One of Cham Syndulla's freedom fighters and an uncle-figure for Hera Syndulla *

Seth Green Seth Benjamin Green ( ''né'' Gesshel-Green; born February 8, 1974) is an American actor. His film debut was '' The Hotel New Hampshire'' (1984), and he went on to have supporting roles in comedy films in the 1980s, including '' Radio Days'' ( ...

as Todo 360: Cad Bane's service droid *

Rena Owen Maria Makarena Owen (born 22 July 1962), known professionally as Rena Owen, is a New Zealand actress in theatre, television and film. Owen is best known for her leading role as Beth Heke in Lee Tamahori's '' Once Were Warriors'' and as Taun We ...

Taun We This incomplete list of characters from the ''Star Wars'' franchise contains only those which are considered part of the official ''Star Wars'' canon, as of the changes made by Lucasfilm in April 2014. Following its acquisition by The Walt Di ...

: A Kaminoan aide to Lama Su *

Robin Atkin Downes Robin Atkin Downes is an English actor. He is known for his work in animation and video games. Early life Downes was born in London. He earned an MFA from Temple University in Philadelphia. Career Downes has voiced characters in animated f ...

as Cham Syndulla: A famous Twi'lek freedom fighter and the father of Hera Syndulla *

Vanessa Marshall Vanessa Marshall is an American voice actress who is most active in films, cartoons and video games. Career Prior to her career as a voice actor, Marshall attended Princeton University, majoring in English. She then attended graduate school at ...

Hera Syndulla General Hera Syndulla is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, voiced by Vanessa Marshall in the animated series ''Star Wars Rebels'', '' The Freemaker Adventures'', '' Forces of Destiny'', and '' The Bad Batch'', and the video ...

:
The daughter of Cham Syndulla who is an aspiring pilot and freedom fighter. Marshall previously starred as an older version of Hera in the series ''

Star Wars Rebels ''Star Wars Rebels'' is an American 3D animated science fiction television series produced by Lucasfilm Animation and set in the ''Star Wars'' universe. It takes place 14 years after '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' (2005 ...

'', in which she generally used an American accent for the character. However, that series revealed in a key scene that Hera originally had a French accent—representing the native accent of the planet Ryloth—like Cham and other Twi'lek characters do, but she lost this after going off on her own path. Marshall, who is fluent in French, was able to use Hera's native accent for the younger version of the character in ''The Bad Batch'', and also adjusted her voice performance to portray a teenager. *

Phil LaMarr Phil LaMarr is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the original featured cast members on the sketch comedy television series '' Mad TV'', where he stayed for five seasons. His voice acting roles in animated series include the Sam B of ' ...

as ** Orn Free Taa: The corrupt Imperial senator of Ryloth **

Bail Organa This incomplete list of characters from the ''Star Wars'' franchise contains only those which are considered part of the official ''Star Wars'' canon, as of the changes made by Lucasfilm in April 2014. Following its acquisition by The Walt Di ...

: The Imperial senator from

Alderaan Alderaan ( ) is an Earth-like fictional planet featured in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. It is blue-green in appearance, depicted as a terrestrial planet with humanoid inhabitants, and characterized by a peaceful culture. It is the home planet o ...

who secretly resists the Empire *

as Chopper: Hera's irritable

astromech droid In the ''Star Wars'' space opera franchise, a droid is a fictional robot possessing some degree of artificial intelligence''.'' The term is a clipped form of " android", a word originally reserved for robots designed to look and act like a huma ...

. The series continues the tradition from ''Star Wars Rebels'' of crediting Chopper as playing "Himself". * Jonathan Lipow as Gungi: A Wookiee Jedi youngling on the run from the Empire *

Sharon Duncan-Brewster Sharon Duncan-Brewster (born 8 February 1976) is a British actress. She is known for her role as Imperial Planetologist Dr. Liet-Kynes in Denis Villeneuve's 2021 adaptation of Frank Herbert's ''Dune'', and before that as Crystal Gordon in '' ...

as Tynnra Pamlo: An Imperial senator from Taris * Jameelah McMillan as Halle Burtoni: A former senator for Kamino * Andy de la Tour as Hurst Romodi: An Imperial admiral who attends Tarkin's summit *

Ben Mendelsohn Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn (born 3 April 1969) is an Australian actor. He first rose to prominence in Australia for his break-out role in '' The Year My Voice Broke'' (1987). He gained international attention for his starring role in the crime d ...

Orson Krennic Director Orson Callan Krennic is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, portrayed by Australian actor Ben Mendelsohn in the film '' Rogue One'' (2016) as the main antagonist, as well as in Season 2 of the prequel series '' Andor' ...

: The Imperial commander overseeing " Project Stardust" who attends Tarkin's summit * Daniel Logan as Mox and Julian Dennison as Deke and Stak: Three young clones of Jango Fett who are abandoned by the Empire

Introduced in season one

* Emilio Garcia-Sanchez as ES-01: A member of Crosshair's elite conscripted trooper squad * Dahéli Hall as ES-04: A member of Crosshair's elite conscripted trooper squad *

Tina Huang Tina Huang (born October 28, 1981)Di Lauro, Janet. "trask master". ''Soap Opera Digest''. January 31, 2022, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 30-33 is an American stage and television actress of Taiwanese descent known for her recurring roles in ''Rizzoli & Is ...

as ES-02: A member of Crosshair's elite conscripted trooper squad * Ness Bautista as ES-03: A member of Crosshair's elite conscripted trooper squad * Sian Clifford as GS-8: The protocol droid of Senator Avi Singh *

Alexander Siddig Siddig el-Fadil (born 21 November 1965) is a British actor and director, known professionally as Alexander Siddig. Siddig is best known for his roles as Dr. Julian Bashir in the television series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', former terrori ...

(season 1) and Danny Jacobs (season 3) as Avi Singh: A senator from the former Separatist planet Raxus Secundus * Ferelith Young as Eleni Syndulla: The wife of Cham and mother of Hera * Tom Taylorson as Roland Durand: A Devaronian and high-ranking member of the Durand crime family

Introduced in season two

Héctor Elizondo Héctor Elizondo (born December 22, 1936) is an American character actor. He is known for playing Phillip Watters in the television series '' Chicago Hope'' (1994–2000) and Ed Alzate in the television series '' Last Man Standing'' (2011–2021 ...

as Romar Adell: a citizen of Serenno who helps the Bad Batch *

Max Mittelman Maxwell Braden Mittelman (born September 5, 1990) is an American voice actor who provides voices for English versions of anime, animation and video games. Early life Maxwell Braden Mittelman was born on September 5, 1990, in Los Angeles. He is ...

as Grotton: the new Imperial governor of Desix *

Tasia Valenza Tasia Valenza is an American actress. She is most known for being the voice of Poison Ivy in the '' Arkham series'' from 2009 to 2015 as well as in a number of other video games, such as Sniper Wolf in '' Metal Gear Solid'' and her various roles ...

as Tawni Ames: the Separatist governor of Desix who opposes the Empire's occupation *

Ernie Hudson Earnest Lee Hudson (born December 17, 1945) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Winston Zeddemore in the ''Ghostbusters'' franchise. Hudson has also acted in the films ''Leviathan'' (1989), '' The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' (19 ...

as Grini Millegi: a Dowutin gangster and business rival of Cid's who oversees races on Safa Toma *

Ben Schwartz Benjamin Joseph Schwartz (born September 15, 1981) is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his recurring role as Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC sitcom '' Parks and Recreation'', his starring role as Clyde Oberholt on the Sh ...

as TAY-0: Cid's cocky droid racer on Safa Toma * J. P. Karliak as Babwa Venomor: a Trandoshan mercenary working for the Empire on

Kashyyyk Wookiees () are fictional humanoid Extraterrestrial life, aliens in the ''Star Wars'' universe, native to the forest planet #Home planet, Kashyyyk. They are distinguished from humans by their gigantism, hirsutism, and physical strength. The mo ...

* Jonathan Lipow as Mokko: The cruel boss of a mining facility *

Yuri Lowenthal Yuri Lowenthal (born March 5, 1971) is an American voice actor known for his work in cartoons, anime, and video games. Some of his prominent voice roles in video games include Peter Parker / Spider-Man in various video games associated with t ...

as Benni Baro: A teenage scavenger who works in Mokko's mine *

Crispin Freeman Crispin Freeman is an American voice actor, voice director, and screenwriter who is best known for voicing characters in English-language dubs of Japanese anime, animation, and video games. Some of his prominent anime roles include Zelgadis Grayw ...

as Nolan: An Imperial lieutenant with a disdain for clones who Crosshair kills *

Andy Allo Andy Allo (born January 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress. She released her first of three albums in 2009, and joined Prince's band, The New Power Generation, in 2011. She had a recurring role in three episodes o ...

as Lyana Hazard: The daughter of Pabu mayor Shep who befriends Omega * Imari Williams as Shep Hazard: The mayor of Pabu, father of Lyana, and a friend of Phee

Introduced in season three

Anjelica Huston Anjelica Huston ( ; born July 8, 1951) is an American actress, director and model. She is best known for playing Morticia Addams in the ''The Addams Family'' and '' The Addams Family Values'', as well as often portraying eccentric and distincti ...

as Isa Durand: The leader of the Durand crime family *

Harry Lloyd Harry Charles Salusbury Lloyd (born 17 November 1983) is an English actor. His performance in the Channel 4 miniseries '' The Fear'' (2012) earned him a British Academy Television Award nomination. He gained prominence through his roles as W ...

as Mann: A corrupt Imperial officer on the planet Lau who gambles with Omega

Production

Development

After

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

acquired

Lucasfilm Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC is an American film and television production company founded by filmmaker George Lucas in December 10, 1971 in San Rafael, California, and later moved to San Francisco in 2005. It is best known for creating and producing th ...

in October 2012, the animated ''

'' television series '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' was canceled in March 2013. A new animated series, ''

'', was prioritized. Lucasfilm said some unfinished episodes of ''The Clone Wars'' would still be released as "bonus content", including a four episode arc that introduces a squad of

s with genetic mutations known as the Bad Batch. The idea for this story came directly from ''Star Wars'' creator

. The four episodes were shown as unfinished story reels at ''Star Wars'' Celebration Anaheim in April 2015. By September 2016, ''The Clone Wars'' and ''Rebels''

had stepped back from that position on ''Rebels'' so he could focus on writing that series and on developing future ''Star Wars'' series with

. In July 2018, Filoni announced that a final season of ''The Clone Wars'' was being produced for the new streaming service

. The unfinished Bad Batch episodes were completed for the season, with some changes, while development on a spin-off series focused on the Bad Batch began at the same time. Disney+ announced the spin-off series, titled ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'', in July 2020. The announcement described the series as being Filoni's vision, and he was executive producing alongside Lucasfilm's Athena Portillo, supervising director Brad Rau, and

Jennifer Corbett, with Lucasfilm's Carrie Beck and Josh Rimes as co-executive producer and producer, respectively. Filoni described the series as being "very much in the vein" of ''The Clone Wars'' and said it would stay true to Lucas's vision for that series of telling epic, exciting adventure stories. A second season was announced in August 2021, before the first-season finale was released. At ''Star Wars'' Celebration London in April 2023, a third and final season was announced. The producers intended to tell a three-season story from the beginning and were glad to be able to complete their plans as intended. Rau said the series would end the Bad Batch's story, but would not be the end of the "''Clone Wars'' universe".

Casting and voice recording

The first trailer for the series, which was released in December 2020, confirmed that

would return from ''The Clone Wars'' as the voice of all the clone troopers, including the members of the Bad Batch,

Captain Rex Captain Rex ( designation number CT-7567) is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He was introduced as a main character in the animated '' The Clone Wars'' 2008 film and the related television series of t ...

, and many others. Baker replaced New Zealand actor

Temuera Morrison Temuera Derek Morrison (born 26 December 1960) is a New Zealand actor who first gained recognition in his home country for playing Dr. Hone Ropata on the soap opera ''Shortland Street''. He garnered critical acclaim for starring as Jake "The M ...

, who portrayed the clones—as well as the bounty hunter

whose genetic material the clones are created from—in the ''Star Wars'' prequel films. Also starring in ''The Bad Batch'' is

as Omega, a young female clone of Jango Fett. Ang was cast in-part because her New Zealand accent aligns with Morrison's, and she was grateful for the opportunity to embrace that side of her identity considering she does not look like "what the world thinks of when they think New Zealander" as a person of Chinese and Malaysian descent. Baker and Ang recorded the first episode of the series together, but other work commitments forced Ang to travel home to New Zealand soon after and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

prevented her from returning to record with Baker for many subsequent episodes. Ang instead recorded much of her dialogue for the series remotely over video calls. Ang and Baker were able to record the series finale together in-person, which they said was an emotional experience for them and the crew. Emerie Karr, an adult female clone, is introduced in the second season. Voice actor

was not told that Emerie is a clone at first, but she suspected that the character was related to Omega after the producers asked her to use her natural New Zealand accent for the role. Castle-Hughes previously had a brief non-speaking role as Queen Apailana in the film '' Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith'' (2005). Daniel Logan, who portrayed

Boba Fett Boba Fett ( ) is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. First appearing in the '' Star Wars Holiday Special'' (1978), where he was voiced by Don Francks, he is an armored bounty hunter featured in both the original and prequel ...

and other young male clones in the prequel films and ''The Clone Wars'', returned to voice a younger clone named Mox in the third season of ''The Bad Batch''. Mox is accompanied by two even younger clones, Deke and Stak, who are voiced by Logan's fellow New Zealand actor Julian Dennison. A younger version of the character

from ''

The Mandalorian ''The Mandalorian'' is an American space Western television series created by Jon Favreau for the streaming service Disney+. It is the first live-action series in the ''Star Wars'' franchise and begins five years after the events of the fil ...

'' was revealed to be appearing in the series with the first trailer's release, and actress

soon confirmed that she would reprise her role as Shand. The trailer also revealed that

and

were reprising their respective ''The Clone Wars'' roles as Tarkin and

. Other actors who reprised roles from ''The Clone Wars'' in the first season include

as AZI-3; Matthew Wood as the battle droids;

as Lama Su;

as Nala Se; Nika Futterman,

, and

as the family of clone deserter Cut Lawquane; Brigitte Kali and

as the Martez sisters;

and

as Bane's droid Todo 360; and

, who narrated the opening of each ''The Clone Wars'' episode, provided similar narration for ''The Bad Batch'' premiere episode. Reprising roles from the ''Star Wars'' films in the first season are

, Wood as Bib Fortuna, and

. The producers knew early in development that the first episode would begin with a retelling of Order 66 from the perspective of the Bad Batch, and decided to include the Jedi Depa Billaba and Caleb Dume since many viewers would already be familiar with the latter from ''Rebels'', where he is known as

Kanan Jarrus Kanan Jarrus (born Caleb Dume) is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise, voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr. He is featured as one of the main characters of the animated series ''Star Wars Rebels'' (2014–2018) and related works. His ...

. The two characters had brief non-speaking appearances in the final season of ''The Clone Wars'' before appearing in ''The Bad Batch'', with

cast as Billaba. The producers considered casting a new young voice actor as Caleb before Filoni reached out to Kanan actor

about reprising his role. Rau felt Prinze was able to bring the right energy for the younger version of the character, as well as added emotion due to his connection to Kanan. Later in the season, a young version of the ''Rebels'' character

is introduced with

reprising her role. This storyline includes some related characters returning from ''The Clone Wars'' or ''Rebels'':

as Hera's father

Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script * Cham Albani ...

, Burton as Gobi Glie,

as Orn Free Taa, and Filoni as Hera's droid Chopper who is credited as playing "Himself". Hera's mother Eleni, who was only mentioned in ''Rebels'', is introduced in ''The Bad Batch'' voiced by Ferelith Young. Also introduced in the season are Noshir Dalal as Vice Admiral Rampart and

as Cid. In December 2022,

was revealed to have been cast in the guest role of Phee Genoa for the second season. The season also introduces Jimmi Simpson as Dr. Hemlock, who replaces Rampart as the primary antagonist of the series. Reprising roles from ''The Clone Wars'' in the second season are Stanton as Mas Amedda,

as Riyo Chuchi, LaMarr as

, and Jameelah McMillan as Halle Burtoni. The season also features several actors reprising their roles from the film '' Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016):

as Tynnra Pamlo, Andy de la Tour as Hurst Romodi, and

. For the third season, Futterman reprises her ''The Clone Wars'' role as

. The producers wanted to cast child actors for the young Project Necromancer test subjects that are introduced in the season. Ivan Sinitsin was cast as Jax, Olwyn M. Whelan as Eva, and Naiya Singh Padilla as Sami.

, who had several guest roles in the series, provided vocals for the baby test subject Bayrn.

Music

Kevin Kiner Kevin Kiner (born September 3, 1958) is an American film and television composer best known for scoring ''Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series), Star Wars: The Clone Wars'', ''Star Wars Rebels'', ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'', ''Star Wars: T ...

was confirmed to be composing the score for the series in January 2021, after previously doing so for ''The Clone Wars'' and ''Rebels''. As with the other animated ''Star Wars'' series, Kevin collaborated with his children Sean and Deana. David Glen Russell and Peter Lam also provided additional music. Sean and Deana Kiner are credited as co-composers with Kevin Kiner for the third season. Kevin described the score for ''The Bad Batch'' as a continuation of his work on ''The Clone Wars'', using a mix of

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

and orchestral music, and said it would continue to evolve just as the music of ''The Clone Wars'' evolved over its run. He took influence from the scores for '' The Guns of Navarone'' (1961) and ''

The Dirty Dozen ''The Dirty Dozen'' is a 1967 war film directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Lee Marvin, with an ensemble supporting cast including Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Ralph Meeker, ...

'' (1967) which both feature a similar band of heroes to the Bad Batch.

Walt Disney Records Walt Disney Records is an American record label owned by the Disney Music Group. The label releases soundtrack albums from the Walt Disney Company's Walt Disney Studios (division), motion picture studios, television shows, Disney Experiences, them ...

released the first track from the series' score, titled "Enter the Bad Batch", as a digital single on May 13, 2021. The label then released Kiner's score for the series in two-volume soundtrack albums for each season: music from the first eight episodes of the first season was released on June 25; from the final eight episodes of the first season on August 20; from the first eight episodes of the second season on February 17, 2023; from the final eight episodes of the second season on April 7; from the first eight episodes of the third season on March 29, 2024; and from the final seven episodes of the third season on May 3.

Marketing

Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy promoted the series at

's Investor Day event on December 10, 2020, revealing the first trailer for the series. Jacob Oller of Syfy Wire felt the trailer made the series look like a more action-heavy version of ''The Clone Wars'', and compared it to the 1980s television series ''

The A-Team ''The A-Team'' is an American Action television, action television series that ran on NBC from January 23, 1983, to March 8, 1987, about a fictional team of former United States Army Special Forces who work as mercenaries while on the run from ...

''. Ahead of the series premiere, characters from the series were also added to the mobile

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out ...

'' Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes'' as unlockable, playable characters.

Release

''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' premiered on Disney+ on May 4, 2021, which is ''Star Wars'' Day, with a special 70-minute episode. The rest of the 16-episode first season was released until August 13. The 16-episode second season was released from January 4 to March 29, 2023; it was originally expected to premiere on September 28, 2022. The final 15-episode season was released from February 21 to May 1, 2024.

Reception

Viewership

Whip Media Whip Media Group is a private American company selling enterprise software for Digital distribution, content distribution, as well as TV- and film-related user data. It operates physical offices in the US, the UK, and the EU. Background Whip Med ...

, which tracks viewership data for the more than 1 million daily users of its

TV Time TV Time (formerly TVShow Time) is a tracking platform and social television network for TV and movies, available in app and desktop forms. Using TheTVDB as a data source, it allows users to store information about their media consumption and l ...

app, calculated that ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' was the most anticipated new television series in May 2021. It later ranked as the fourth most anticipated returning series in September 2022.

Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...

, which records streaming viewership on U.S. television screens, estimated that ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' was watched for 251 million minutes, making it the seventh most streamed original series, from May 3—9, 2021. According to Whip Media's TV Time viewership tracking app, the series ranked as the third most streamed original series across all platforms for five consecutive weeks, from January 8 to February 5, 2023. It subsequently remained within the top ten rankings from February 12 to March 19.

announced in 2022 that ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' and '' What If...?'' each appeared on its streaming charts for a combined total of seven weeks from May to October, collectively accumulating approximately 2 billion minutes of viewing time. Luminate, which measures streaming performance by analyzing viewership data, audience engagement metrics, and content reach across various platforms, calculated that ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' was watched for 923 million minutes in 2024.

Critical response

The

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reported an 86% approval rating with an average rating of 7.3/10, based on 92 reviews for the first season. The website's critics consensus reads, "''The Bad Batch'' beautifully animated adventure may be too lore heavy for casual viewers, but fans will enjoy diving deeper into this dastardly cast of characters."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 67 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The second season has an 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 7.2/10, based on 21 reviews. The website's critic consensus reads: "The second bundle of ''The Bad Batch'' retains all the same virtues and vices as the first: a slick Star Wars adventure geared toward diehard fans at the expense of more casual viewers." The third season holds an 87% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average rating of 8.0/10, based on 15 reviews. The website's critic consensus reads: "Mobilizing for one last hurrah with plenty of easter eggs and rousing action still left in its arsenal, ''The Bad Batch'' ends on a good note." On Metacritic, the third season has a score of 68 out of 100, based on 4 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Joel Keller of ''

Decider Decider is both a real word and a "Bushism". It may refer to: * ''Decider'' (website), a pop culture website operated by the ''New York Post'' * '' Bill Maher: The Decider'', a stand-up comedy special * Decider (Turing machine), a Turing machin ...

'' called the series a "worthy" spinoff of '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' and praised the introduction of Omega as a female main character, writing, "''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' should satisfy ''Clone Wars'' fans and give completist fans of the franchise a chance to see what happened at the very beginning of the Empire." Joshua Rivera of ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...

'' gave the show a positive review and stated, "The

prequels A prequel is a literary, dramatic or cinematic work whose story precedes that of a previous work, by focusing on events that occur before the original narrative. A prequel is a work that forms part of a backstory to the preceding work. The term ...

are just as full of rich potential as the original Star Wars trilogy, and ''The Bad Batch'', like The Clone Wars before it, is set to do a lot of slow, careful work to tease out that potential." Wenlei Ma of ''

News.com.au News.com.au (stylised in all lowercase) is an Australian website owned by News Corp Australia. It had 9.6 million unique readers in April 2019 and covers national and international news, lifestyle, travel, entertainment, technology, finance an ...

'' gave the show a positive review and stated, "''The Bad Batch'' is catnip for the dedicated Star Wars fans. It's an animated action-adventure series with thrills, relatable characters on the right side of the war, blaster guns and enough lore and easter eggs to invoke a few excited squeals." Vincent Schilling of ''

Indian Country Today ''ICT'' (formerly known as ''Indian Country Today'') is a nonprofit, multimedia news platform that covers the Indigenous world, with a particular focus on American Indian, Alaska Native and First Nations communities across North America. Fo ...

'' gave the show 8.5 out of 10 stars and stated, "I'm not a superfan of Star Wars animated series, but I am impressed with this one, a team of certifiable rejects, each with their own skillset, is a winning formula for me – excellent actually." Jesse Schdeen of ''

IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...

'' gave the premiere episode an 8 out of 10 rating, stating that the series is "a worthy successor to ''The Clone Wars'', so much so that it could easily be rebranded as an eighth season" and that "it uses a loose end from that show to build a brand new story about the plight of clones after the war's end, and it's one that immediately resonates". He also added that the show "captures a lot of what made ''The Clone Wars'' so great (including the slick animation style and the vocal talents of Baker), but it doesn't entirely escape that show's flaws, either". Julian Lytle of idobi.com gave the show 8 out of 10 stars and stated, "''The Bad Batch'' feels familiar but also starts a new journey with new characters in a cool setting. I can't wait to see what happens with this group in the Empire." Marty Brown of ''

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

'' gave the show 4 out of 5 stars and a '10+' age rating, stating, "This series delivers on precisely what fans would expect from a Star Wars story: world building, unique new characters, and big action sequences with a moral allegory at the center." Jonathan Roberts of ''

The New Paper ''The New Paper'' is a Singaporean newspaper. It was originally published in tabloid format as a "noon paper", then from 2016 as a freesheet in the morning from 7 a.m. onwards. In December 2021 the paper went to digital only. History Firs ...

'' gave the show 2.5 out of 5 stars and stated, "''The Bad Batch'' is good to dip into, but it can make for a bad binge." Niv M. Sultan of ''

Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...

'' rated the series 1.5 out of 4 stars and stated, "The show's attempt to individualize its protagonists largely reduces them to predictable, banal archetypes." Kimberly Terasaki of ''

The Mary Sue Daniel Abrams (born May 20, 1966) is an American media entrepreneur, television host, and author. He is currently the host of '' On Patrol: Live'' on Reelz, and ''The Dan Abrams Show: Where Politics Meets The Law'' on SiriusXM's P.O.T.U.S. cha ...

'' expressed concerns over the series "

whitewashing Whitewash is a paint-like covering of hydrated lime or a cheap white paint. Whitewash or whitewashing may also refer to: Racist practices * Whitewashing (beauty), modifying the skin tones of photographs of nonwhite people in mass media * Whitew ...

" the clone troopers, writing that "the designs of some characters seemed to make many of them lighter-skinned and/or with more European features... Long story short: clones of a character played by a Māori man had been white-washed." This concern was also noticed by fans, spawning a

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

page, an

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

page, and a

Change.org Change.org is a website which allows users to create and sign petitions in an attempt to advance various social causes by raising awareness and influencing decision-makers. The site is a US-based for-profit company and claims to have 551 million ...

petition. In response to these concerns, supervising director Brad Rau said the animation team had gone back through the produced episode and adjusted the skin tones of the clones to be closer to that of film actor Temuera Morrison. The show has also received praise for its representation of people with

disabilities Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

. Emily Smith of ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' noted that prior to ''The Bad Batch'', most disabilities in the ''Star Wars'' universe were associated with negativity, such as with antagonists

Darth Vader Darth Vader () is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was first introduced in the original film trilogy as the primary antagonist and one of the leaders of the Galactic Empire. He has become one of the most iconic villain ...

and

Darth Maul Maul (originally Darth Maul) is a character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise created by George Lucas. He first appeared in the prequel film '' Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'' (1999). Maul returned in the animated television series ' ...

, who became amputees after combat. Other characters, like

Luke Skywalker Luke Skywalker is a fictional character in the ''Star Wars'' franchise. He was introduced in the original film trilogy as the main protagonist and also appears in the sequel trilogy. Raised as a poor moisture farmer on the desert planet Tat ...

and

, were negatively affected after being injured by antagonists. In contrast, the original four ''Bad Batch'' characters were born with disabilities, which Smith said frees their disability from any connotation. Joshua Patton of ''CBR'' complimented the show for portraying a kid-friendly conversation about neurodivergency, highlighting a quote from Tech in season two, episode nine: "I may process moments and thoughts differently, but that does not mean that I feel any less than you".

Accolades

The first season is one of 200 television series that received

the ReFrame Stamp The ReFrame Stamp for Gender-Balanced Production certification is awarded by ReFrame to corporations and media that show progress toward gender equality and greater representation of women in key roles. History On June 8, 2018, the ReFrame Sta ...

for the years 2021 to 2022. The stamp is awarded by the gender equity coalition ReFrame and industry database

IMDbPro IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

for film and television projects that are proven to have gender-balanced hiring, with stamps being awarded to projects that hire female-identifying people, especially women of color, in four out of eight key roles for their production. , - ! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;" , 2022 , Golden Reel Awards , Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Animation Series or Short , Matthew Wood, David W. Collins, Frank Rinella, and Kimberly Patrick (for "Reunion") , , , - ,

Saturn Awards The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

, Best Animated Series on Television , ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' , , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="3" style="text-align:center;" , 2024 , Golden Reel Awards , Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Broadcast Animation , David W. Collins, Matthew Wood, Justin Doyle, Kevin Bolen, Kimberly Patrick, Frank Rinella, Margie O'Malley, and Andrea Gard (for "Faster") , , , - ,

Producers Guild Awards The Producers Guild of America Awards were originally established in 1990 by the Producers Guild of America (PGA) as the Golden Laurel Awards, created by PGA Treasurer Joel Freeman with the support of Guild President Leonard B. Stern, Leonard St ...

, Producers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Children's Program, Outstanding Children's Program , ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' , , align="center" , , - , 51st Saturn Awards, Saturn Awards , Saturn Award for Best Animated Series on Television, Best Animated Television Series or Special , ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' , , , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center;" , 2025 , 52nd Saturn Awards, Saturn Awards , Saturn Award for Best Animated Series on Television, Best Animated Television Series , ''Star Wars: The Bad Batch'' , ,

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{Saturn Award for Best Animated Series or Film on Television Star Wars: The Bad Batch, 2020s American animated television series 2020s American science fiction television series 2021 American animated television series debuts 2024 American television series endings American animated action television series American animated science fiction television series American animated television spinoffs American computer-animated television series Animated television series about extraterrestrial life Disney+ original programming Fictional mercenaries Interquel television series Star Wars animated television series, Bad Batch Animated television shows based on films Television series by Lucasfilm Television series about outer space