After Disney acquired the Star Wars franchise and declared almost everything non-canon, it started to rebuild decades’ worth of material. Since then, much of the Legends continuity has been scraped for new takes on the old stories. Star Wars: The Bad Batch has continued that theme and made some dramatic changes to the old canon, but there were also instances of minor retcons from what Disney had declared as its own canon. So, here’s a list of all the changes that The Bad Batch made to canon — both major and minor.
How Kanan Jarrus’ Survived Order 66
Kanan Jarrrus’ story was first told in the 2015 Star Wars: Kanan series. The second issue showed Kanon — then known as Padawan Caleb Dume — and his master, Depa Billaba, during a Clone Wars battle. They were on the planet of Kaller; it was nighttime, and they were celebrating after a victory. Billaba had just given the Padawan a holocron, but he never got ample opportunity to use it because Palpatine enacted Order 66. When it happened, they fought together and killed numerous clones until Billaba finally told Caleb to run. Shortly after, blaster fire cut her down.
The Bad Batch kept the same story premise for Kanan, but it also made some changes. The events still happed on Kaller, but it was during the day. Also, there was a lull in the battle. However, unlike the comic, it was far from won. When Order 66 was given, Billaba and Kanan were separated. So, Caleb had to watch from a distance as his master was shot and killed, and she never killed any of the clones. She only tried to defend herself — thus, keeping the Jedi way. Then, to state the obvious, Clone Force 99 was present, and they perused Caleb as he fled in the confusion. It was also Hunter who allowed Caleb to escape.
The Color Of Depa Billaba’s Lightsaber
In all actuality, this change happened before The Bad Batch premiere. A 2020 book called Star Wars The Lightsaber Collection quietly changed Billaba’s lightsaber color from green to blue. The change was made to coincide with original designs from Star Wars: The Clone Wars. However, because of the covertness of the color change, the opening episode of The Bad Batch was the first time that many fans noticed the difference.
Order 66 Was Awful For Clones Too
Order 66 was one of the most catastrophic events in galactic history, but The Bad Batch made it even worse. The previous line of thought held that clones’ inhibitor chip overrode their judgment and made them execute their Jedi leaders. However, The Bad Batch confirmed that the order didn’t change clones’ thinking. At one point, Wrecker’s chip activated, and after the fact, he explained that he had tried to fight against the chip’s directives. That means when clones enacted Order 66, they actually didn’t want to do it. They were literally forced to act. It was as if they were watching themselves commit treason and murder but could not stop.
Order 66 Was Not A Catch-All
This kind of goes without saying, but it has also been a cause for confusion. The Bad Batch had multiple stories that focused on clones after Order 66, and the results varied. For example, Captain Howzer started to rebel against Imperial control on Ryloth while he still had his inhibitor chip active, and Gregor did the same thing while training new soldiers. Also, Crosshair chose to continue obeying orders after his chip was removed, while the rest of Clone Force 99 never followed Imperial orders.
The bottom line is that inhibitor chips were designed to make clones obey specific orders. Almost all of them obeyed Order 66, but the chips didn’t have a specific use after that. Once the Jedi were eliminated, Order 66 didn’t function as an “obey-me-better-order.” It was simply obeyed and completed. So, after that, some clones started to revert back to the free will allotted to them originally. That was one reason the Empire saw the need to replace the clones with conscription soldiers.
What Happened To Kamino
Previously, Star Wars: Battlefront II provided the story of what happened to the planet of Kamino. Basically, after the Clone Wars, the Empire established a military rule on the planet, and the Kaminoans didn’t like that. So, they grew new clones that were loyal to them and staged an uprising. It was brutally put down by the 501st legion, with Boba Fett leading the charge. That battle was also the major catalyst for replacing clones with stormtroopers in Legends continuity.
The Bad Batch completely scrapped the whole Kamino uprising plot. Although there were talks of the Kaminoans activating a contingency plan, the Empire worked fast to eliminate any potential, Kaminoan threat. In fact, rather than just shutting down the cloning facilities, Admiral Rampart completely sunk Tipoca City into the sea with an aerial bombardment.
Why And When Clones Were Replaced With Stormtroopers
In Star Wars Legends, and even pre-The Bad Batch, canon had a variety of reasons for replacing clones. Among them were the following: clones were expensive; clones took too long to raise but didn’t have a long service time, and the Kaminoan Uprising. For the most part, those reasons end up staying the same. Even though there was no specific Kaminoan uprising, there was still clone dissent against the Empire.
However, as far as the timeline goes, there were some changes. Originally, it took years to phase out all of the clones. In Legends, there were clones still serving the Empire in 1 BBY, although most were in non-combative roles. Canon continuity had the same thing happening a few years before that. However, The Bad Batch seems to back that timeframe up even more. It’s mere days after Order 66 when Crosshair is given a squad of conscription soldiers to lead. Weeks to months after that, Project War-Mantle is in full swing, and TK troopers are now the standard. With the way that Admiral Rampart is moving, it looks like clones will be completely obsolete within just a few years.
The Emperor’s Cloning Projects Began Immediately
Palpatine cloned himself and returned from the dead in both canon and Legends — albeit with completely different stories– but The Bad Batch is starting to flush out the canon story a little bit. After Kamino was destroyed, Kaminoan Chief Scientist Nala Se was taken to what might be Wayland from Legends continuity. After fans saw that, it has been heavily theorized that she will immediately begin laying the groundwork for Palpatine to clone himself.
Boba Fett Isn’t The Only Unaltered Clone
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones provided its own retcon when it revealed that the bounty hunter Boba Fett was actually a clone. Before The Bad Batch, it was thought that he was the only Kaminoan clone that was an unaltered match of Jango’s DNA. That, however, is no longer the case. The series introduced Omega, and her significance was heavily debated until it was finally revealed that she was a defective clone. More importantly, though, she was an unaltered clone. That means that Boba — whose codename was Alpha — and Omega are closely related. The Bad Batch has not provided a story for them to meet, but it seems inevitable that something like that should happen in the near future.
Captain Rex Worked With the Early Rebellion
Star Wars Rebels showed Captain Rex later in life. When Ezra and Kanan find him, it was heavily implied that he worked for the Empire for a time. Agent Kallus knew who Rex was, and Rex talked about reporting some but not all of the old Republic and Separatist bases to the Empire. The Bad Batch has seemingly changed that. When Clone Force 99 encounters him, he’s clearly been busy working with some rebels. He doesn’t give any details, but he is definitely not working for the Empire, even reluctantly.
Saw Gerrera’s History With The Empire
The Bad Batch showed that Saw Gerrera was at the top of the Empire’s most wanted list after Order 66 because Tarkin immediately sent Crosshair and his new squad to kill him and his people. After that, Gerrera had no choice but to take up arms against the Empire. James Luceno’s Catalyst novel suggested that Gerrera spent some time in the galactic underworld before eventually fighting the Empire. However, The Bad Batch seems to have streamlined his story.
Cut Lawquane’s Story After The Clone Wars
Cut Lawquane made an appearance in The Bad Batch when he helped Clone Force 99 after Order 66. During the Clone Wars, he had deserted the GAR and settled on Saleucami to raise a family. According to Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath trilogy, Cut’s canon story involved him staying on the planet throughout the Dark Times. However, The Bad Batch changed that because he faked a set of chain codes so that he and his family could flee Imperial control on the planet. They could still return to Saleucami, but they have now taken a hiatus from living there.
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